Administrator of the Minerals Development Fund, Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw-Kotei, has disclosed that her decision to remain in Ghana after her studies in Cuba was heavily influenced by former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.
Speaking on the Upside Down Show on Channel One TV on Sunday, September 28, 2025, Dr. Bisiw-Kotei recounted that she returned to Ghana in 2001 after graduating in 1999. At the time, however, she felt unsettled by what she described as a hostile political climate and considered leaving the country once again.
She explained that her frustrations were largely due to the constant criticisms directed at the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, whom she deeply admired for improving the lives of ordinary Ghanaians.
“I graduated in 1999, and I came home in 2001. I think I didn’t want to come home, but I came home, and I want to say this here to mummy, Mrs. Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, I am grateful. I remember when I came home, I really wanted to go back… at that time I was considering leaving the country because I loved President Rawlings so much and I knew, as I know right now, where we were as a country before he came in.
“I experienced it, I felt it, I saw the hunger, drought. I saw how soldiers would come to our end and my mum would get fufu for them to take to the Castle. I was a little child,” she narrated.
Dr. Bisiw-Kotei recalled that a family visit to the Rawlingses became the turning point for her.
“My mummy and I visited and she [Mrs. Rawlings] prepared fufu and after we finished eating… we had to go and say hello to her to know I was back. As mommy [Nana Konadu] said, it actually went strong in me because you see, they had come out of office and they were being castigated.
“But this is the same woman who was telling me that if I left the country I was going to pay for the food. And when we left, my mother would not let me be, so that kept me,” she said.
According to her, those encounters with Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings strengthened her resolve to remain in Ghana and contribute to national development, despite her initial frustrations.
