16th November 2023 11:36:58 AM
2 mins readFormer President John Agyekum Kufuor has noted that he was physically absent when his late wife, Theresa Kufuor, delivered their fifth child.Kofi (Owusu Afriyie Kufuor), their fifth child, was born on June 16, 1972, by "a single parent," as the former president says in his tribute to his deceased wife.According to the statesman, it was not of his will to not be present when Theresa delivered.
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He had been arrested and was serving a 15-month jail term following a coup d’état on January 13, 1972.Kufuor who was appointed Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1969 after being elected MP for Atwima Nwabiagya under the Kofi Abrefa Busia government was one of 54 government officials thrown into the Ussher Fort prison.According to the former president, for almost 8 weeks, they were denied contact with family.
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But "this angel of a woman, to my amazement, would survive the ordeal of raising five children on her own – in my absence, Aba gave birth to our fifth and last child, Kofi, as a single parent on 16 June 1972."He posited that Theresa Kufuor's "strong and exceptionally disciplined personality did indeed come to the rescue of our family.
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""I could not have foreseen the crash that befell us and could not, therefore, have made any provision for our ordeal. However, Aba rose above that. With her strong, prayerful faith in God, Aba’s spirit would not and could not be broken. She survived on very little then; and she truly kept our hopes alive," he added.
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The statesman, who was then in his thirties, noted that he was left with a sense of optimism that was most assuring Theresa was allowed to visit him in prison."I survived my incarceration of 15 months largely because of Aba. She was a woman of sacrifice, devotion, humanity and resilience," he said.
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Today, a state burial is being held for the late Theresa Kufuor who departed from this world at her residence in Peduase, surrounded by her family, on October 1 at the age of 87.She is survived by her husband, five children and 14 grandchildren.
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