Rebecca Naa Dedei Aryeetey was the Political Activist and Chief Financier of Kwame Nkrumah led CPP.
It takes great work and achievements for anybody, particularly a woman in a male-dominated world to win a place on a national currency.
Many have seen the image on the 50 pesewas coin yet, many do not know how she won her place there.
The historical account of happenings in Ghana has very little on women leading and supporting the charge for independence and self-rule.
One among a few if not the only woman who has been favoured by the history of Ghana is Yaa Asantewaa. By now you are familiar with the 50 pesewas coin and perhaps are familiar with the double-decker buses that became known as the Auntie Dedei bus in recent years but who is this woman and why does she merit a space even on a national currency?
She is said to have been raised in the heart of the capital of Ghana, a place known as James Town and went into flour business right after basic school.
At the age of 30, she had become popular for her exploits in the flour business and had won for herself the title ‘Flour Queen’ leading the Market Women Association.
As campaigner and financier of the CPP, she campaigned and funded Kwame Nkrumah’s first political campaign which saw him win the Ashiedu Keteke seat, in the house of the legislature, a place that was said to be the nerve centre of the Ga-Dangme Confederacy.
Many political historians have alluded to the fact that if Dr Nkrumah had lost that seat, he would never have become the Prime Minister of Ghana.
By the time Dr Nkrumah was released from jail in 1951, Gbedemah had mobilised the market women as the backbone of CPP in Accra. The leader of the pack was Naa Dedei.
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