You may have heard she was a politician, a Member of Parliament, a minister and Gender advocates.
But you may not have been told Madam Hawa Yakubu was a very huge iconic figure within the Bissa fraternity. A pioneer of the Zekula festival, whose dedicated services to mother Ghana was immeasurable.
The ‘iron lady” she was called.
Perhaps your very eyes never saw her mount the stage with vigour, chanting the “Zekual Mpanga” chorus.
Perhaps your very ears never heard about a woman who blazed the trail to see her people unite to grow in strength.
For Bissas, 20th March 2007 remains a day a big Oak tree fell against expectation.
It was a day of counting loses because a lady of legendary status had left them in the middle of a stream.
She was a delight to watch because she exuded power and statesmanship and her presence represented an indescribable hope not for only Bissas but the entire Northern region of Ghana.
Even as she felt not too fit physically to go about her duties, she felt so indebted mentally to complete her mission for Bissa Unity.
And this is the woman Bissas lost exactly 14 years ago. Yesturyears today, the Bissa hearts went heavy with eyes cluttered in tears, mouths wailed in pain as ears refused to listen to anyone.
She was waiting to celebrate her 60th birthday on the 24th of March but it was the cold arm of death which cut short the waiting, calling her to her maker on the 20th, four days before she could enjoy the melodic “happy birthday to you” serenade.
“She was a very huge iconic figure, if she was alive she could have been in the position of a Vice President or A President of this county, the Bissa Lemagan Dominic Sori Payida said as he pays tribute to the “iron lady”.
Simply put, Madam Hawa Yakubu was an embodiment of Zekula, whose presence is still felt than her absence.
A byword for women empowerment whose legacy lives on to impact the young women of today.
Politically, she remains the kind of Hawa the NDC MPs won’t have a second thought to endorse for a ministerial position and obviously, the Kind of Hawa the NPP MPs won’t have tough time defending her actions for endorsement.
She is the woman the Bissas take solace and pride in due to her sterling courage in speaking truth at every stage.
The mother to the motherless, the sister to the lonely brothers, the daughter to the weak-limbed fathers and a comforter to the retired mothers, Hawa Yakubu died at 58.
For the millennials who never got to meet or see Hawa in action, start asking questions why the woman, whose birth and death happened in the month of March, is highly revered by the Bissa fraternity.
If your eyes did not see her, let your ears hear about Madam Hawa Yakubu, the Bissa woman whose name will forever be praised.
About the Hawa Yakubu
Born in Tarkwa but a native of Pusiga, Madam Yakubu rise through the ranks to hit the political pinnacle when she became the MP for Bawku Central.
She had her tertiary education at the Accra Polytechnic (now the Accra Technical University) where she obtained her diploma in Institutional Management.
Prior to entering politics, Yakubu was a Domestic Bursar and a businesswoman.
In 1979, Yakubu was elected unopposed to her local council and was the youngest member of the constituent assembly which wrote the constitution of the Ghana’s Third Republic. She also served as the Women’s Leader for the United National Convention when the party was founded in 1979. Yakubu fled to London and later Nigeria when a military coup occurred in 1981. She lived in voluntary exile until 1991.
In that year, Yakubu returned to Ghana and, in the following year, contested a seat in parliament from the Bawku Central district, which she won despite being an independent candidate. She was elected into the first parliament of the fourth republic of Ghana on 7 January 1993 after she was pronounced winner at the 1992 Ghanaian parliamentary election held on 29 December 1992.[2] She then lost the seat under controversial circumstances and moved to Cotonou, Benin until 2000.
In 2000, she returned to Ghana and won back her seat. In 2001 and 2002, she was appointed to be Minister of Tourism under President John Kufuor. She also served at this time as a Ghanaian representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) parliament. Yakubu lost her parliament seat in 2004.