The steady rock behind the Kufour presidency is no more
No one prepares to be the first lady of a country. It is a position one occupies by virtue of the feat chalked by a spouse.
For some, however, a trek into their upbringing, natural disposition, academic qualification and life associations reveal a clear pattern that someway, somehow, they have been prepared to be steady rock behind the successful presidential tenure of their spouses.
A person who fits this description is the second first lady of Ghana’s fourth republic, Madam Theresa Aba Kufuor. The world woke up to the news of her death on Monday, 2nd October, 2023. Apparently, death laid its icy hands on Auntie Theresa on Sunday, the 1st of October. Twenty-four days before her 88th birthday. Being the spouse of President John Agyekum Kufuor, Theresa Kufuor served as the First Lady from January 2001 to January 2009, just as his tenure.
The Mensah Lineage
Born to a civil servant father, the former first lady was christened Theresa Aba Mensah at birth. Her brother, the famed Joseph Henry Mensah who would later give her hand in marriage to a 23 year Old Kufuor on a temperate autumn morning in England in 1962, did not know that he would serve as Senior Minister in his brother-in-law’s government.
But of course, J.H Mensah is an accomplished Ghanaian leader in his own right. He served in the Busia government as Finance Minister when his brother-in-law, Kufuor was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. Fate conspired to have them in key roles in public life, while closely connected as family.
At the risk of digressing, let me state that another of the Mensah siblings, Dorothy, gave birth to Ambassador D.K Osei-the consummate career diplomat who served as Secretary to the President- and the late Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, former MP and Minister of state. The Mensah family has paid its dues in terms of producing a good breed for public service.
The Matriach and Patriarch of the family are reputed to have been sticklers for hardwork, discipline and academic excellence. Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye recounts in his tribute to J.H Mensah, “My wife who knew the family of Uncle J.H., his brothers and sisters (including Mrs. Kufuor) very, very well, and did live next door in Kumasi, told me of the discipline and Godliness imparted in their home. Their Colonial civil servant father and mother were committed Christians. You could tell the time when you saw Madam Mensah pass by every morning. She was returning from 6 am mass. A good Christian home with discipline produced very fine children, all of whom have been successful in life.”
With this background, it is not shocking to note that Madam Theresa Kufour began formal education at the Catholic School at the Keta Convent in the Volta Region of today.
Calm and Re-Assuring Presence Behind the Leader
Mrs Kufuor is described as motherly, generous, wise, composed and all that a leader could ask for in a spouse. Politics is a hotbed of acrimony and for a politician, it is always good to go home to a wife whose countenance is refreshing and soothing.
President Kufuor in an interview once described her as such. He said “Due to the politics, I was mostly away, but I must say she did a good job and has sustained the marriage to this point. It has not been all smooth but she is a good person who easily lets go, even when you offend her. I laud her for being supportive all these years and taking care of the children.”
The love story sprouted in England where they were both students in Oxford. Agyekum Kufuor, a student of Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Exeter College and Aba Mensah, a nursing and midwifery trainee at the Radcliffe Infirmary, now the imposing John Radcliffe Hospital.
I must blow my horns a little at this point and say that, after living and studying in the city of Oxford myself, I personally know and identify with the environment within which the love affair blossomed. They met for the first time at a Ghana Republic Day Dance in 1961. The following year, they got married. A marriage that produced five children.
As a professional in her own right, she became a Registered Nurse after getting her education from Southern Hospital Group of Nursing in Edinburgh, Scotland.
After she graduated from the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and Paddington General Hospital, London, she became a State Certified Midwife with a Certificate in Premature Nursing.
Legacy and Tributes
Even though she preferred the title, mother of the nation to the title of first lady, her time in that role witnessed a push 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 demise, tributes have been pouring in. President Akufo- Addo’s reads in part “she was a composed and articulate First Lady, polyglot, fluent in several languages including Ewe, who brought great dignity to the position.
I knew several members of her family, especially her celebrated brother, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to know her too. Her warmth, kindness and grace were exceptional.
She bore the vicissitudes of life with great stoicism and an unshakable belief in the sovereignty of Almighty God.
In her memory, the current first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo wrote “I have learnt with great sadness the passing of Former First Lady of our dear country, Mrs. Theresa Kufuor. My deepest condolences to Former President H.E John Agyekum Kufuor, the family, and friends, in these difficult times”.
The family Spokesperson, P.K Mensah told me at the Peduase Residence a day after the sad event that the family is still putting burial plans and funeral arrangements. Theresa Kufour brought humanness, grace, poise, wisdom and motherliness to the office of the first lady. Long may these values continue to be the centre piece of public life in Ghana.