They met as teenagers at Achimota School. By the time they married in 1977, Jerry Rawlings was a young air force officer with no national profile. Two years later, he was running the country.
Nana Konadu Agyeman was born in 1948 into a prominent Asante family. She studied at Achimota School, where she met Jerry John Rawlings, and later at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, where she studied art. The couple married in 1977.
Sudden power
In June 1979, Rawlings led a mutiny of junior officers that overthrew the military government and handed power to an elected civilian government months later. On 31 December 1981, he seized power again and ruled Ghana until 2001, first as military head of state and then as elected president from 1993.
Nana Konadu became first lady, a role she held for nearly two decades, one of the longest tenures of any first lady in Africa.
The 31st December Women’s Movement
In 1982, she founded the 31st December Women’s Movement, which became one of the largest women’s organisations in Ghana. It ran day care centres, supported women’s businesses and campaigned on women’s rights. Critics said it was too closely tied to the ruling party.
Her own politics
After Rawlings left office, Nana Konadu became active in politics in her own right. She sought the NDC presidential nomination in 2011 and later formed the National Democratic Party, standing as its presidential candidate in 2016. The split from the party her husband founded was widely discussed.
A partnership
The couple had four children: Zanetor, Yaa Asantewaa, Amina and Kimathi. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings became a member of parliament for Korle Klottey.
Their marriage was a political as well as personal partnership. Nana Konadu was often seen as one of her husband’s closest advisers.
Death
Jerry John Rawlings died in November 2020, aged 73. He was buried at the Military Cemetery in Accra in January 2021 after a state funeral. Nana Konadu led the family in mourning.
Lessons
Their story shows a marriage that endured extraordinary pressure: military rule, public scrutiny and political rivalry. It also shows a wife who built her own public career while supporting her husband’s.
They married as two young people from Achimota. They spent the next four decades at the centre of Ghanaian history.
