Sometime around or about 1983/84, as a boy growing up in Labadi Villas, Burma-Camp, a sordid spectacle befell my eyes and I still remember vividly what I witnessed.
An officer (name withheld for obvious good reasons), exited the earth realm to be with the Lord, and left behind a young widow and three infant sons.
I was a shade older than the eldest of the three sons so of if I was about 11/12, you can imagine how young the boys were.
After the laying of the mortal remains of the deceased officer to rest, we began to hear stories and see activities of relatives who had invaded the official bungalow of the deceased officer – harassing and tormenting the life of the grieving widow and her fatherless sons.
We could not believe it when we heard that the relatives actually asked the window to vacate the military bungalow when it was not owned by neither the deceased officer nor his family.
I cannot count the number of times I encountered the poor little boys walking around Labadi Villas in abject dejection and faces carrying deep contours of distress.
Every now and then, children would pick up snipets of gossip from parents about what was happening to the grieving widow and her equally miserable sons.
Eventually, per the military regulations, the widow and her sons had to vacate the bungalow and as we say, the rest is history.
This heart-wrenching story I have captured, took place during the heady days of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) days, under the leadership of Chairman Jerry John Rawlings – and it certainly was not a state-sponsored act. It had all to do with traditional inheritance systems that existed at the time and left many widows in poverty.
Two to three years later, specifically 1985, as an avid consumer of news bulletins, the equilibrium of my eardrums began to play host to a plethora of news about the promulgation of the “Intestate Succession Law” PNDC Law 111.
At the time, Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, was the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, and the Leader of the 31st December Women’s Movement – a strong pillar of the PNDC set up purely to galvanize women for empowerment and national development.
The story narrated was a microcosm of a more humongous picture of what was happening countrywide to countless widows and children who fell at the merciless ax of ruthless family members of deceased husbands/spouses.
As Leader of the 31st December Women’s Movement which was fighting non-stop for the rights of women and children, the vivacious and very strong-willed First Lady championed the promulgation of PNDC Law 111.
In summary, the purpose of PNDC Law 111, was inter alia “… to establish a uniform system for distributing assets, to protect widows and children, and to replace indigenous (obnoxious), inheritance practices”.
The law was promulgated to apply to all persons, regardless of their class or marital status – the law does not discriminate.
Many widows and children have benefited and continue to benefit from PNDC Law 111.
The abuse of the Law is not a subject of this article.
Subsequently, Mrs. Rawlings, in 1995 (during the embryonic phase of our Fourth Republican Dispensation), led Mother Ghana to the United Nation’s Conference in, Beijing, China, to make major progress in establishing more Rights for Women worldwide.
In 2025, as the world commemorates International Women’s Day, and 40 years after the promulgation of PNDC Law 111, I personally choose to celebrate and salute Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings for lighting the flame for women’s liberation in contemporary Ghana.
As we say in her local dialect “Onipa be ye bi, wan be se orbe ye nyinaa”. To wit, “Humans are on earth to do what they can possibly do; not to do all”.
As she continues to be with us as the longest ever First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, there is no gainsaying the fact that PNDC Law 111 shall live till the end of human existence.
Facts are facts and as a thoroughbred of the early 80s and 90s as well as an integral part of re-establishing democratic rule in 1992 via the Students Front Movements, I salute Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings for what she has been able to do for Women in Ghana.
All others who have worked to support the broadening of the frontiers for women, also have my respect.
Let us look to the future with greater optimism.
Ayekoo to one and all.
Samuel Koku Anyidoho
(Founder and CEO, MILLS Institute For Transformational Leadership Development ).
Monday, March 10, 2025.
