Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo born Rebecca Naa Okaikor Griffiths-Randolph is the First Lady of Ghana as the wife of President Nana Akufo-Addo, 5th President of the 4th Republic of Ghana.

She is the daughter of the judge, Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph who served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana in the Third Republic, and Frances Phillipina Griffiths-Randolph.

She was born on March March 12 1951 in Ghana.

She attended the Achimota Primary School and the Wesley Grammar School in Dansoman in Greater Accra Region. She the4n proceeded to the Government Secretarial School where she qualified as a secretary.

Rebecca worked with the Merchant Bank before relocating to the United Kingdom. She was then a legal secretary for Clifford Chance/Ashurst Morris Crisp all multinational law firms in the United Kingdom.

Rebecca Akufo is a founding member and chairperson of the charity, Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation founded in 2005. This foundation supports the national effort to reduce malarial infections in infants and young children.

Rebecca Akufo-Addo was installed as the Development Queen mother of Ada Traditional Area at the 82nd-anniversary celebration of Ada Asafotufiami festival in August 2019 and is known by the stool name Naana Ode Opeor Kabukie I.

She is a member of the Accra Ridge Church and the patron of the Infanta Malaria,a charity organization dedicated to the prevention of Malaria in children.

In 2017, she founded the Rebecca Akufo-Addo foundation, a non-governmental organization to enhance efforts of government amongst Ghanaian women and children. In November 2017, the Rebecca foundation signed a deal with Licang District Experimental School in Qingdao, China.

This was for an exchange program that would each year enable ten students from both countries to visit the other. This was a move would enhance academic, sports and cultural harmony between students of both countries.

In October 2018, The Rebecca Foundation rolled out the “Learning to read, reading to learn” project. This was to instill a culture of learning in children to enhance literacy. Some of the goals of the project were to build libraries across the country and introduce school and child-friendly programs to enable children to learn to read.

In November 2018, the Foundation launched the “Because I want to be” project. It provides a cushion for underprivileged girls in society and guarantees continuous education and skills training for female school dropouts.

The foundation built and commissioned a new Pediatric and Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in 2019.In January 2019, she launched the Free to Shine campaign. This was to stop mother-to-child transmission of AIDS and was in line with the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA) drive.

In June 2019, the foundation presented six ambulances to some healthcare organizations to enhance the delivery of their services. The “Save the Child, Save the Mother” project established both a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) and a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

It was sponsored by the foundation together with the Multimedia Group and The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hopital and supported by the Manhyia Palace and the Government of Japan. The project was geared towards reducing maternal and infant mortality.

In September 2019, she made an appeal for the empowerment of women, at the United Nations General Assembly.This would make it possible for them to impact more on the welfare of their families and communities. It was at a side event put together by the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and themed “Renewing commitment towards enhancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa”.

In January 2020, the foundation’s women empowerment program, the Terema Women’s Empowerment Initiative, in conjunction with the National Board for Small Scale Industries, trained women in soap making.

In February 2020, the Rebecca Foundation, through the “Enhancing the Youth through Education and Health (EYEH) Soup Kitchen” project, made a donation of assorted food items worth about GH¢15,000 to some street children in Accra.

Source: www.GhanaCNN.com

Dr Sekou Nkrumah, one of the sons of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah has admitted that all was not well with the marriage of his parents especially after Ghana gained her independence.

Though too young to understand what was going on, Dr Nkrumah says it wasn’t because his late father was a womanizer but rather, he had little time for his wife.

He also attributed the difficulty in their marriage to the age difference, thus, Osagyefo was 26 years older than his wife, Fathia.

Sekou Nkrumah indicated politics consumed Kwame Nkrumah’s time and mind.

Emma Florence Yaa Adinyira Amedahe, the lady-in-waiting to the then First Lady Fathia Nkrumah, in a recent interview with Accra-based Joy FM stated that she had a friendly relationship with the first family at the Flagstaff House.

The former staff of the first family said, the then First Lady related with her like her own sibling and had deeper conversations together.

“Madam [Fathia Nkrumah] took me to the children’s room the first day I reported for work, she hadn’t assigned me to anything yet. I bought storybooks for their two children, Gamal and Samia. By then, they had a nurse who was catering for the children. After one month, Fathia asked me to be in charge of her room, that’s cleaning. She started drawing me closer to herself. When her hairstylist came, she would call me to help him. Her hairstylist was a man by the name of Joseph.

One day, Joseph finished styling her hair, but madam didn’t like it, she undid everything and later asked me to do it. She appreciated what I did and asked Joseph not to do her hair again because she liked it when I did it for her. She later asked Joseph to train me, he trained me for three months.”

Yaa Adinyira Amedahe recounted some interesting secrets the late Fathia Nkrumah shared with her.

“We used to talk, she even told me how her husband was treating her. I went to Egypt with her so I know a lot of her family members. Fathia saw me as a sister, and I was also like her sister. She once told me Osagyefo didn’t like her and that he was a womanizer,” she said.

Reacting to this, Dr Sekou Nkrumah wrote on his Facebook timeline:

“Fathia had a difficult marriage with Nkrumah, not because of him being a womanizer rather because he had very little time for her!

There was also a big difference in age between them! Nkrumah’s official birth is 1909, while that of Fathia is 1935!”

He added that, even though the marriage between Nkrumah and Fathia was an arranged one, Fathia was really in love with her Ghanaian iconic and pan-African leader.

Dr Nkrumah noted, his mother had dreams of having a romantic marriage with the man of her dreams, she had to learn the “hard way” especially when on their wedding night, Osagyefo was caught up with work and returned home very late to spend time with his wife.

“Although it was an arranged marriage, the young Fathia was really in love with Nkrumah, she idolized the iconic and charismatic African leader!

But she quickly learned the hard way, when on their wedding night Osagyefo was caught up with work and returned home very late!

The young Fathia had dreams of a loving and romantic marriage but had to learn fast to accommodate and adapt to Nkrumah’s busy lifestyle. Simply put, politics consumed all his time and mind!” Dr Sekou Nkrumah stressed.

Source: www.GhanaCNN.com

Exactly 42 years ago today, Ghana’s former Head Of State, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was executed by firing squad after he had been convicted of squandering government funds.

The 47-year-old former army general, who ruled the country for more than six years, stood trial before a revolutionary court set up by a group of junior officers who seized power in a coup 12 days ago.

Another British‐trained officer, Lieut. Gen. E. K. Utuka, former commander of the border guards was found guilty of the same charges and executed with him.

Acheampong led a bloodless coup d’état to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Progress Party and its leader Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia on 13 January 1972.

Source: www.GhanaCNN.com