Legal Director of the United Party (UP), Andrew Appiah Danquah, has paid tribute to the late Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, describing her as a transformational figure whose courage and conviction reshaped Ghana’s political and social landscape.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, October 25, 2025, Mr Appiah Danquah said the former First Lady’s activism and political boldness set her apart as one of Ghana’s most influential women.
“She was an activist, but to think that she would use her appreciation and understanding of political power to change the course of how women were seen and to empower women for me is remarkable. And I think we have not celebrated her enough as we’ve allowed partisanship to more or less blind our honest appreciation of a person like Nana Konadu,” he said.
Reflecting on tributes from across the political divide, Mr Danquah referenced comments by former President John Agyekum Kufuor, saying, “Yesterday former President Kufuor said that her name will be written in granite. I want to add gold; her name will be written in gold when the story of Ghana is being told.”
He urged Ghanaians to honour Nana Konadu’s memory beyond mourning, noting that her courage to challenge her own party—the National Democratic Congress (NDC)—and form the National Democratic Party (NDP) underscored her patriotism and integrity.
“You may disagree with her, but I respect her strength of conviction. The fact that she being a founding member of the NDC, and when she believed — whether she was right or wrong — that the party was charting the wrong course, had the courage of conviction to come out and challenge the system to the extent of even forming her own party,” he said.
Mr Danquah described Nana Konadu as a patriot whose values transcended party politics.
“We need a politics where we have more people who are ready to put the interest of the nation first even ahead of their party’s interest, and I think Nana Konadu represented all of that. So yes, her soul will certainly rest in peace, but the people of Ghana must come together to celebrate this patriot,” he added.
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, Ghana’s longest-serving First Lady, is widely remembered for her pioneering work in women’s empowerment through the 31st December Women’s Movement and her decades of advocacy for gender equity and social justice.