Nana Konadu to be bid state farewell on 28 November

Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the formidable former First Lady who spent nearly two decades shaping women’s empowerment and social programmes in Ghana, has been the focus of a national outpouring of grief this week following her death on 23 October 2025. The family confirmed she died at a Greater Accra hospital at the age of 76. 

A requiem Mass for Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings is taking place today at the Accra Ridge Church, as family, dignitaries, and supporters gather to pay their respects. The service forms part of a tightly scheduled programme of public and traditional rites leading to a state funeral later in the week. 

The Government of Ghana has announced that the late former First Lady will be accorded a state funeral, with President John Dramani Mahama describing her as a “pacesetter” who served as First Lady for 19 years. The family has set the final funeral rites and interment for Friday, 28 November 2025, at Independence Square in Accra.

The state ceremony is expected to begin with the arrival of the cortege at dawn. 

Nana Konadu’s public life was defined by a determination to mobilise and empower women. As founder and president of the 31st December Women’s Movement (established in the early 1980s), she led a mass organisation credited with community projects, pre-schools and literacy and health initiatives that reached hundreds of thousands of Ghanaian women and children. Her signature projects and advocacy made her a polarising but undeniably influential figure in Ghanaian public life. 

Beyond grassroots work, Nana Konadu also made history in party politics. She founded the National Democratic Party and, in 2016, became one of the first Ghanaian women to contest the presidency, a move that underscored her belief in women’s leadership even when it courted controversy. Her political life, like her social programmes, provoked vigorous debate but also widened the space for women in Ghana’s public life. 

Tributes have poured in from across Ghana’s political and civic spectrum, former colleagues, activists and ordinary citizens have described her as a tireless advocate for family welfare, education and the rights of women. The government and the Rawlings family have appealed for orderly mourning and asked sympathisers to observe the colour code for the final rites. 

As the nation watches the requiem and prepares for the state funeral on 28 November, reflections on Nana Konadu’s complex legacy are already underway: a life of high visibility, contested politics and sustained charitable work that will remain a prominent chapter in Ghana’s modern history.