Former first lady Theresa Kufuor dead
Mrs Theresa Aba Kufuor, wife of the second President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, has died at the age of 88, a source close to the Kufuor family has confirmed to Asaase News.
She died today Sunday 1 October 2023, 24 days to her 89th birthday. Theresa Kufuor (née Mensah), was born on 25 October 1935. She was a retired nurse and midwife.
Her husband, former President John Agyekum Kufuor was at home, when his wife whom he has been married to for over 55 years, died. Mrs Kufuor has not been well in recent years.
Incidentally, President Nana Akufo-Addo had travelled to the mountains to pay a visit to the former President and her passing is said to have happened shortly before the President arrived.
Mrs Kufuor played a significant role during her time in office and leaves behind a legacy of grace and dedication to the people of Ghana. She was a devout Roman Catholic as well.
Mrs Kufuor started her education at the Catholic Convent, OLA, at Keta in the Volta Region of Ghana. She later went to London, where she was educated as a Registered General Nurse, in the Southern Hospital Group of Nursing. Edinburgh, Scotland.
After further study at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford and Paddington General Hospital, London, she qualified as a State Certified Midwife with a Certificate in Premature Nursing.
Madam Theresa Kufuor married John Kufuor when he was at age 23 after they met at a Republic Day Anniversary Dance in London in 1961. They got married in 1962.
She had five children with John Kufuor and they are J. Addo Kufuor, Nana Ama Gyamfi, Saah Kufuor, Agyekum Kufuor and Owusu Afriyie Kufuor. She therefore died a mother of five, and a grandmother of eight.
Despite being the first lady of Ghana for eight years between 2001 and 2009, she has managed to maintain a low profile in the political arena.
In 2007 she pushed for policy changes in the Government’s white paper on Educational Reforms towards the implementation of UNESCO‘s Free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) program for kindergarten children.
She founded the Mother and Child Community Development Foundation (MCCDF), a non-governmental organisation operating in Ghana and Canada that supports work in prevention of mother to child transmission.
