Finally, the NDP has been given a provisional certificate by Ghana's Electoral Commission. It is almost about four months to elections and the question most Ghanaians ask is "Who is going to be the flagbearer of this newly formed party, the National Democratic Party, NDP.
Some people have been speculating that the Rawlingses are behind the formation of this party. As it stands now, the names that people think would be the flag bearer of the party is Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings. The interim chairman of the party, Dr. Josiah Aryee has categorically made assertions to the fact that they have the support of the former first lady, Nana Konadu and have made commentaries to the effect that it would is likely that Nana Konadu would be the flag bearer of this new party. Even before the NDP was formed, several campaign photos of hers that showed her standing as an independent candidate were found.
Let's take a look and the biography of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings. If she says yes to this proposal, she would be first female to have ever stood for the position of a flag bearer and if she wins she would be the first female president of the Republic of Ghana
A HISTORY ABOUT NANA KONADU AGYEMANG RAWLINGS
Nana Konadu, was born on the November 17, 1948 to the late J.O.T. Agyeman and his wife. She schooled at Achimota School, where she met her future husband Jerry John Rawlings. She continued at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where she read Art, specializing in Textiles. She was a student leader and an executive of her Hall of residence, Africa Hall
Nana Konadu got married to her sweetheart, Jerry John Rawlings
an Airforce Officer, in 1977. She gave birth to her first child
Ezenator Rawlings in 1978. Two other daughters and a son followed later;
Yaa Asantewaa, Amina and Kimathi. She also has some grandchildren.
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings came into the political limelight when her husband became Head of State
briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. She became the president of
the 31st December Women's Movement from 1982 to date. She was elected
1st Vice Chairperson of her party in 2009 during the second term of her National Democratic Congress (NDC) party's tenure in office under the current President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills. She challenged the seating President of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills
for the party's flagbearership position at the party's congress which
took place at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region from 8–10 July 2011 and
lost to him.
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT/WORK
In a statement released by the Embassy of Ghana, former First Lady
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings stated, "My desire is to see the
emancipation of women at every level of development to enable them to
contribute and benefit from the socio-economic and political progress of
the country.... Women's vital role of promoting peace in the family,
the country and the world at large must be acknowledged. And to do this,
they must be empowered politically to equip them adequately for the
challenges of critically identifying and assessing solutions for the
betterment of society."
This was the goal of the 31st December Women's Movement of which Nana
Konadu Agyeman Rawlings was president. She described it as a "broad
based development oriented Non-Governmental Organisation that aspires to
achieve these objectives through the effective mobilisation of women."
In addition, her movement—two million strong—has set up more than 870
pre-schools in Ghana and has worked actively to stir up interest for the
accomplishment of child development and family planning.
Ghana's former First Lady has said that she would continue to work in
the women's movement even if her husband were no longer president. Her
husband, Jerry Rawlings, led a military coup that seized power in 1981,
although he was not established as head of state until the following
year. The country successfully reverted to civilian rule in 1992 and
held free elections. Calling the first lady "an instrumental part of the
revolution in Ghana's economy," the Baltimore Afro-American reported
that women were Ghana's largest labor force, and they wanted to be a
central part of the country's redevelopment. "Before December 31, 1981,
they had no power of influence in law or politics--even the laws that
pertained to them." It was a grassroots movement, with women selling
their land, clothes, and jewelry to get money.
Mrs. Rawlings was born on November 17, 1948 in Cape Coast, in the
central region of Ghana. Both of her parents were professionals, her
father serving as a prominent statesman and her mother as an educator.
Mrs. Rawlings followed their lead, making education a primary concern in
her own life. She attended one of the country's leading high schools,
Achimota Secondary School in Accra, in the 1960s. In 1975, just three
years after graduating with honors from the University of Science and
Technology with a bachelors' degree in graphic design, she earned an
interior design diploma from the London College of Arts. She would
pursue her education into the next couple decades, acquiring a diploma
in advanced personnel management from Ghana's Management Development and
Productivity Institute in 1979 and a certificate in development from
the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in 1991.
When interviewed in Africa Report in January and February 1995, Mrs.
Rawlings recalled that in the early 1980s, a few women approached her
wanting to form a women's organization but after a few meetings, little
happened. She said that after asking the women what they wanted to do as
an organization, "It was clear that we had to start with things that
would earn money to develop their communities in the social sector. Most
of the women wanted things like water." Mrs. Rawlings spent time
listening to women who came to her with their problems. Her movement
taught Ghanaian women how to generate income and save money for
community projects. It encouraged them to become part of the decision
making process in their villages, and explained policies of health and
education. It offered an adult literacy program to teach them to read
and write—the majority of women could not do either. Too early marriages
among female children were discouraged and programs were offered on
nutrition and immunization. In 1991, through the efforts of Nana Konadu,
Ghana was the first nation to approve the United Nations Convention on
the Right of the Child.
Via the movement, Mrs. Rawlings also played a crucial role in the
adoption of an "Intestate Succession Law," which is applicable to the
survivors of anyone dying without a will. Traditionally, Ghanaian women
had little or no rights of inheritance upon the death of their husbands.
The new law provides a standard of inheritance.
Mrs. Rawlings movement has also taught village women to become
involved in the electoral process. "We literally just pounded it into
them until they realized, hey, we don't want any of these people who are
living outside our areas to come and stand in our areas to be elected,"
she said in Africa Report. "A lot of women are now on committees in
their villages and districts, some are chairing the committees.... I can
only say we've made a lot of impact, and I can see from the self-esteem
and near arrogance of the women, that now we've actually been able to
break through this thick wall." In 1992, 19 women were elected in
parliamentary elections.
Pointing to the area of finance as one of their problems, Mrs.
Rawlings told Africa Report: "Most of the Western embassies said we were
just a political group and they didn't take time to listen. It took a
lot of time just getting people to understand.... The more women who
enter politics, the better the world will be, because we don't think of
wars and who is going to manufacture arms and who is going to kill the
next person. We want to form linkages, network, and make the world a
better place to live in."
During 1995 Ghana's first lady traveled with her husband to cities,
including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Houston,
Detroit, Lincoln, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles, trying to encourage
investment and trade with Ghana. Her husband was the first Ghanaian
president to go on a nationwide tour in the United States.
The first lady of Ghana was in the United States for five weeks
taking part in a fellows program in philanthropy and non-profit
organizations at the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, where she received a certificate after
finishing the course of study, which included fundraising techniques,
tax policy, and a course on community organization. In 1995 both she and
her husband received honorary doctorate degrees at Lincoln University
in Lincoln, Pennsylvania.
Noting Mrs. Rawlings's "charm" and "substance," the New York
Amsterdam News reported that she was praised by Ghana's permanent
representative to the United Nations, George Lamptey, who said, "For the
past 12 years she has stood by her husband in the struggle to restore
Ghana. She has led a group of active women to help empower Ghanaian
women, freeing them from being hewers of wood and drawers of water to
be[ing] actors in the political arena."
Ghana's first lady is a member of the Ashanti tribe. She and her
husband have four children, three girls and a boy. When not busy with
her family or work, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings enjoys swimming,
reading, dancing, camping, and collecting dolls from around the world.
She also devotes time and money to such charitable causes as the
National Radiopathy Project, Friends of the National Zoo, and the Ghana
Girl Guides Association to name a few.
WOULD SHE ACCEPT THE OFFER?
The early commentary shows you that the former first lady has a lot of expertise, education and experience when it comes to public but wherever she would accept the letter or not; it lies in her power to choice
