By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a state funeral for the late former First Lady, Mrs. Theresa Kufuor.
He made the announcement during a meeting with the family of the late former first lady. Saying the state funeral would be held on November 16, 2023.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, Mr. Theresa Kufour deserves to be given all the respect of the state hence the decision.
Mrs. Kufuor passed away on Sunday, October 1, 2023, at age 87, following an extended period of illness.
Theresa Kufuor (born 25 October 1935) was the wife of John Agyekum Kufuor, the second President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, and former First Lady of Ghana. She was a retired nurse and midwife.
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.
Theresa 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 is a mother of five and a grandmother of eight. She is a devout Roman Catholic.
Despite being the first lady of Ghana for eight years between 2001 and 2009, she 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 organization operating in Ghana and Canada that supports work in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
