Some of GJA members at the ceremony
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) joined mourners from all walks of life Wednesday to condole with former President John Agyekum Kufuor, and his family, at the one-week observance of the passing of his wife, Theresa Kufuor, a former First Lady.
The delegation was led by Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, the GJA President, some national executives of the Association and senior media practitioners.
On behalf of the GJA, Dwumfour expressed his condolences to the former President and the bereaved family, and pledged the Association’s support to him in their difficult time.
In an interaction with the media, thereafter, Dwumfour lauded former President Kufuor for his role in expanding the frontiers of media freedom in Ghana.
During his tenure (2001-2009), the Criminal Libel Law was repealed, Government funding to the public media saw significant improvement, while the GJA was given a property, which houses its present secretariat.
Theresa Kufuor, will be given a state burial on Thursday, November 16, 2023.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, who announced this, said the former First Lady had paid her dues to the nation, therefore, the nation would accord her all the necessary respects.
Kufuor, who was affectionately called Mother Theresa during her tenure as First Lady, died on Sunday, October 1, 2023.
She was 87.
The retired nurse and midwife, was born on October 25, 1935.
As a First Lady, was very warm and kept a low profile, staying away from the political arena.
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.
Mrs Kufuor established the Mother and Child Community Development Foundation (MCCDF), a non-governmental organisation, operating in Ghana and Canada.
It supports work in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
She began her basic education at the Catholic Convent, OLA, at Keta in the Volta Region of Ghana.
She later went to London, where she was enrolled 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.
She met Kufuor at a Republic Day Anniversary Dance in London in 1961.
They got married in 1962. They have five children and eight grand children.
A devout Catholic, she was awarded the Papal Award Dame of St Gregory the Great for her commitment to the plight of poor children and their families.
