Mildred Christina Akosiwor Fugar also known as Mildred Ankrah (12 June 1938 – 9 June 2005) was a First Lady of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and wife to

Joseph Arthur Ankrah Joseph Arthur Ankrah Born (18 August 1915 – 25 November 1992) was a Ghanaian army general who was the head of state of Ghana from 1966 to 1969 in the position of Chairman of the National Liberation Council. Before becoming head of state, Ankra ...

. She had been brought up in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

and the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, and after her husband's rise to

head of state of Ghana This is a list of the heads of state of Ghana, from the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the present day. From 1957 to 1960 the head of state under the Constitution of 1957 was the queen of Ghana, Elizabeth II, who was also the queen of the Un ...

, she worked in social and religious work.

Biography

She was born on 12 June 1938 in Luluabourg,

(now

Kananga Kananga, formerly known as Luluabourg or Luluaburg, is the capital city of the Kasai-Central, Kasai-Central Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was the capital of the former Kasaï-Occidental , Kasaï-Occidental Province. It is ...

, Democratic Republic of the Congo); to Mr Benoni Kwaku Fugar, a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

and Mrs Pauline Isombe Edembe Fugar, a Congolese citizen. She was the fourth of seven children. Fugar started school at

Keta Keta is a coastal town in the Volta Region of Ghana. It is the capital of the Keta Municipal District. Keta was an important trading post between the 14th and the late 20th centuries. The town attracted the interest of the Danish, because they f ...

Roman Catholic Convent in the

(now Ghana), where she also completed middle school in 1957 and then continued to the Universal Commercial College,

Somanya Somanya is a town and the capital of Yilo Krobo District, a district in the Eastern Region of south Ghana. Somanya has a 2013 settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the di ...

. Mildred began to work at the Central Revenue Department, now the Ghana Internal Revenue Service, after successful completion of her course at Universal Commercial College. She met General

for the first time in 1962 after her sister Florence went to

Burma Camp Burma Camp is the headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence. The camp is in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. It retains notoriety and fear from previous Ghanaian military regimes, when civilians who entered the camp ...

to join the auxiliary corps of the Ghanaian Army. Florence saw two high ranking army officials and asked them to direct her to the "boss of the army" so that she could submit her application. Ankrah was so taken by her that he escorted her back home to her family, where he met Fugar. They were engaged in 1965 and later married. Following the coup d'état which led to a change of government on 24 February 1966, and the rise of Ankrah to

and chairman of the

National Liberation Council The National Liberation Council (NLC) led the Ghanaian government from 24 February 1966 to 1 October 1969. The body emerged from a ''coup d'état'' against the Nkrumah government carried out jointly by the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Armed For ...

, Fugar became

First Lady of Ghana First Lady of Ghana is the title of the wife of a sitting president of Ghana. The current first lady is Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who has held the position since 2017. They are not officially given salaries but the Ghanaian first and second lady are b ...

. She worked heavily in social and religious work.

Death

Mildred died on 9 June 2005 and was buried on 29 June of that same year at the Osu Cemetery in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fugar, Mildred Christina Akosiwor 1938 births 2005 deaths First ladies of Ghana People from Kananga