Harriet Boateng Sarpong
Peduase, (E/R) Oct 12, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Wednesday joined hundreds of Ghanaians to observe the one-week of the passing of former First Lady Theresa Kufuor at her residence at Peduase in the Eastern Region.
The President described the former First Lady as a woman of grace and respect and said she would be given a State burial on November 16.
The dignitaries included Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, First Lady Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, Second Lady Samira Bawumia, and Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare.
Others were members of the Council of State, the Paramount Chief of the Akuapem Traditional Area (Okuapeman), Oseadeeyo Kwasi Akuffo III, and the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II.
Delegations from the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) were headed by their respective presidents, Yaw Acheampong Boafo and Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, respectively.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, who was enveloped by his brother, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, former Agric Minister, Dr Afriyie Akoto, his children, and members of the Oyoko Royal Family, received condolences from individuals and institutions from across the country.
The institutions included security services, political parties and a delegation from the Nigerian community in Ghana.
Mr Kwadwo Alan Kyerematen, a former Trade Minister, who recently left the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to form the “Movement for Change” to contest the 2024 Presidential election as an independent candidate, was also present.
Some individuals, companies and businesses donated money, drinks and boxes of water.
The observance ceremony was characterised by the display of rich Ashanti culture and tradition.
Former First Lady Mrs Theresa Kufuor died on October 1, 2023, in her residence at age 87.
Born on October 25, 1935, as Theresa Mensah, Mrs Kufuor lived most of her working life in the United Kingdom after her studies at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and Paddington General Hospital in London.
She served as First Lady from 2001 to 2009. and was married to former President Kufuor for 61 years.
Madam Theresa married John Kufuor when he was 23 after they met at a Republic Day Anniversary Dance in London in 1961.
They got married in 1962 and had five children.
In 2007, she advocated policy changes in the Government’s white paper on Educational Reforms towards the implementation of UNESCO’s Free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) programme 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.
GNA