Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
WHO becomes the next first lady of Ghana will depend on which of the eight presidential candidates contesting for tomorrow’s election wins the race.
On the ballot which will be cast by about 14 million voters are President John Dramani Mahama, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Dr Abu Sakara Foster, Mr Hassan Ayariga, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Mr Jacob Osei-Yeboah, Mr Akwasi Addai Odike and Dr Henry Lartey.
At the end of voting, the potential first ladies will wait patiently for the outcome to determine whether Mrs Lordina Mahama would continue as the first lady or another person will take over from her.
Ghana’s democratic process which started in 1992 has seen first ladies in the likes of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Mrs Theresa Kufuor and Mrs Enerstina Naadu Mills who were the wives of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kuffour and the Late John Evans Atta Mills respectively.
Nana Konadu was the first lady from 1992 to 2000 and during her reign the nation witnessed a vibrant 31st December Womens’ Movement which empowered women across the country to be self-reliant economically and socially.
Mrs Kufuor’s reign saw the establishment of the Mother and Child Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which sought for assistance, especially in the form of medical and educational materials, to support mothers and their children.
Mrs Mills, whose reign was truncated with less than a year to its end due to the death of her husband, sourced for and made donations to especially children in need to help better their lives.
Mrs Lordina Mahama, wife of President Mahama, became the first lady on July 24, 2012 following the elevation of her husband, then Vice-President, to the position of President.
The fate of her husband in the elections would determine whether Lordina will become a full term first lady or go down in history as the first lady to have served for less than six months.
A member of the John Mahama Campaign 2012 team, the Lordina Mahama Fun Club, Youth For Mahama (YFM), among others, she works at galvanising support for her husband.
Her organisation, the Alternative Source of Income Programme (ASOIP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), is committed to helping underprivileged children and women in the under-developed areas of Ghana.
She grew up in Tamale in the Northern Region and was born to Madam Abena Gyan and Mr Kwabena Effah, both deceased.
Her father hailed from Nkoranza Bodom while her mother was from Jema-Ampoma, both in the Brong Ahafo Region.
After an early primary education in Tamale, Lordina was admitted to the Bolga Girls Secondary School but after the second year, she moved to the Ghana Secondary School where she wrote her General Certificate Examination (GCE).
During her secondary school days, she took keen interest in Home Science and that led her to continue her training at the Flair Catering Training Centre in Accra.
She obtained a Bachelor (Hospitality Industry) degree at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in 2008.
Mrs Sandra Addai, the wife of the United Front Party (UFP) presidential candidate, 44, married Mr Addai in 1984. She hails from Nkronza and lives in Kumasi with the UFP presidential candidate. They are blessed with four children.
A businesswoman, she is looking forward to being the First Lady on January 7, 2013.
The wife of Nana Akufo-Addo is Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo.
Mrs Akufo-Addo hails from Osu and Akuse in the Greater Accra Region.
She is the second daughter of the late Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph, the Speaker of Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana, and Mrs Frances Griffiths-Randolph.
She began her career as a pioneering staff of the Merchant Bank, Ghana. She later went to the United Kingdom to work as a legal secretary for two top law firms, Clifford Chance and Ashurst Morris Crisp.
She is a board member of the Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation, a charity organisation dedicated to the support of children, with particular focus on fighting childhood killer disease, malaria.
From 2008, Mrs Akufo-Addo has not left the campaign trail, rallying for her husband.
Her role in the 2012 campaign has been extraordinary as she crisscrosses the length and breadth of the country talking to several women, organisations and groups.
She has been a regular guest at almost all major markets in the country where she explains her husband’s vision and dreams for Ghana.
Mrs Yvonne Nduom is the wife of Dr Papa Kwasi Nduom. She was born and bred in Elmina. She attended primary schools at the St John Bosco Catholic School in Winneba and Our Lady of Apostles in Elmina and continued to the Archbishop Porter's Girls Secondary School in Takoradi for her GCE Ordinary Level Certificate.
She continued to the St Louis Secondary School in Kumasi where she obtained a GCE Advanced Level certificate before continuing to the University of Cape Coast for a B A (ED) degree in English and Education.
She later taught at Kumasi Girls Secondary School for her National Service and also served as a part-time English tutor at the Kumasi Polytechnic.
She got engaged to Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom in 1976 and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1977.
While in the United States of America, she studied at the University of Wisconsin and obtained MSc in Administration in Leadership and Adult Education in 1980.
From 1990, Mrs Nduom partnered her husband, Dr Nduom, to establish several companies, namely Gold Coast Securities, First National Savings And Loan, Qualtek, Ghana Media Group, Sterlin Management Services, Yorke Properties and Coconut Grove Hotels, of which she is the Executive Chairperson. She is a board member of the First National Savings and Loan and the chairperson of the Christian Mothers Association.
As Director of Sterlin Management Services, she developed and conducted Management Training Programmes for quite a number of Blue Chip Companies, notably Unilever, Merchant, Barclays, Standard Chartered banks, Total Ghana Ltd, Guinness Ghana Ltd and many others.
The wife of the CPP presidential aspirant, Mrs Mary Lily-Kafela Sakara, is an economist and business administrator by profession.
A native of Navrongo in the Upper East Region, Mrs Sakara had her GCE ordinary level certificate education at the St Roses Senior High School and obtained her advanced level certificate at the Ola Girls Senior High School.
Also a businesswoman, she was born at Yendi in the Northern Region into a family of four boys and six girls to the late Mr Alexander Adolba Tigenoah and Mrs Elizabeth Charity Tigenoah.
While studying at the Ealing College, now Thames Valley University, in the United Kingdom for her B.A degree in Economics, she met her husband, Mr Abu Sakara Foster, who was also studying in the UK.
Mrs Anita Ayariga is the wife of the PNC presidential candidate, Mr Hassan Ayariga. She attended Achimota Secondary School and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where she studied Graphic Design. Mrs Ayariga is also a businesswoman.
Mrs Hilda Osei-Yeboah is the wife of the only independent candidate in the race. She hails from Elmina. She got married to Mr Jacob Osei-Yeboah in 1996 and they have four children.
She attended the St Monica’s Senior High School at Asante Mampong and continued to the Takoradi Polytechnic.
She works together with her husband at Vital Source Limited (VSL), a procurement and logistics company focused on gold mining and oil and gas industries within West Africa.
At the moment, she has taken full charge of the company founded by her husband so that he can have time to campaign.
The presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr. Henry Lartey, is divorced and single.
