To live to a-ripe age of 88 years in a country where life expectancy, by 2023 record, is 64.94 years, speaks volumes of the life of the former first lady, Theresa Kufuor.
She was the first lady of the republic of Ghana from 2001 to January 2009, when President John Agyekum Kufuor, handed power to the late John Evans Atta Mills.
Her life, which only became public when she became the first lady, was defined by a regimen of self discipline, moderation in all things human, shied away from the controversies that come with the office, as we witnessed before she became the first lady, and application of self to the progress and development of the country.
As captured already, she was the former first lady, but until then she was a nurse, midwife and a mother.
As a first lady, 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.
Since her passing, it has been a flurry of deserved tributes by many who had encountered her. For president Akufo-Addo, Mama Theresa, as she was affectionately called, was a devoted companion of President Kufuor throughout their sixty-one (61) years of marriage. She was an invaluable and constant source of advice, encouragement and prayers for him.
The New Patriotic Party also eulogized the former first lady. In a statement signed by the General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Koduah, the party in a statement said, “Mrs Kufuor was a beacon for female advancement, fostering initiatives to inspire and empower both young and adult females in various facets of life. The members of the ruling NPP, together with all Ghanaians whose lives were positively touched by her, extend our deepest condolences to former President John Agyekum Kufuor, their children, and the entire family.”
Theresa Kufuor, born on October 25, 1935, in Kumasi, Ghana, led a life marked by unwavering dedication to her country and its citizens.
Theresa 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 survived by five children.
As she goes the way of all mortals, we join her husband, John Agyekum Kufuor, family, other relations, friends and associates in wishing her a peaceful repose.
