Ghana's former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has died at the age of 76, the Ghana News Agency reported on Thursday.
According to Mahama Ayariga, the Majority Leader in Ghana's Parliament, the ex-first lady died on Wednesday following a short illness.
"On behalf of the entire Majority Members of Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Speaker (Alban) Bagbin, and the entire Parliament of Ghana, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to the family and the nation for this great loss," Ayariga said on Thursday.
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was the wife of Ghana's former military-turned-civilian President Jerry Rawlings.
Ascent to presidency
Rawlings ascended to the presidential seat in 1979 following a series of military coups in the West African nation.
Rawlings, a flight lieutenant at the time, contributed to the overthrow of the government of the then-military head of state Lieutenant General Frederick William Kwasi Akuffo.
However, Rawlings' presidency lasted slightly over 100 days, as Ghana held its presidential poll in June 1979, and Hilla Limann, a career diplomat, won that election.
Limann served until 1981, when Rawlings overthrew his government in yet another coup.
Got married in 1977
Rawlings, thereafter, served as president until democratic elections were held in 1992.
He won that year's poll, and went ahead to serve two more terms as president, leaving office in 2001. He was succeeded by President John Kufuor.
Rawlings died in November 2020 at the age of 73.
The former head of state and his spouse got married in 1977. They had four children together.
MP daughter
Their eldest daughter, 47-year-old Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, a medical doctor by profession, is the current Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle Constituency in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
She belongs to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the political party that her late father founded in 1992, and successfully sponsored other presidents, including the incumbent head of state, John Mahama.
Zanetor's late mother, former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman, is credited for championing women empowerment and gender equity.
