GRi Arts & Culture 28 – 03 -
2003
"Any holy truth in the
words of politicians is visible, discernible and declared in their actions and
deeds and this volume speaks about not only his actions but more importantly
about his intentions," Professor Atukwei Okai
said.
The 107-page book authored by Ivor Agyeman-Duah, founder and
Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Intellectual Renewal captures the President's
story in eight interesting chapters: The Child May Resemble His Father But Has
a Family- The Making of 'Apagyefie;' The Journey to
Oxford - The Love of Theresa and of Politics.
The others are: Return to Ghana:
Sorcerer's Apprentice; Following the Foot Prints of the Fathers; Farewell to
the Men on Horseback; Waiting for Godot; The Agama
Lizard Walks Slowly But it will get to its Destination; and A Long Journey Ends
at Sunrise.
"When on 8 December 1938,
in one of the rooms of the family house, Apagyafie,
in that famous part of Kumasi called Asante New Town-
Ash Town, conception took place in the royal womb of Nana Ama
Dapaah, with the male prompting of the local chief,
the Kumasi Oyokohene, Nana Kwadwo Agyekum little did
the world know that the child that would appear would declare himself to the
world by collecting in his Prempeh College, in 1959, five of the six
prizes...." the story unfolds.
"At the age of 28, he
became the youngest public official to run
According to Prof. Atukwei-Okai, the book democratises access to the interesting
insights that explain the combination of vision and determination,
self-confidence and self-sacrifice that hitherto remained the preserve of a few
close allies.
The PAWA Secretary-General,
therefore, commended the author for having the foresight to decide on writing
the biography and for being lucky and patient enough to successfully execute
the assignment.
"The destiny of the 18
million Ghanaian lies in the hands of one elected Ghanaian, and it is good, useful
and healthy to really know who that man is, where he comes from and what he
believes in. This biography does that – for all Ghanaians and all
Africans."
Some copies of the book were
auctioned for 100 million cedis, with Ebenezer Essoka
Chief Executive of Stan Chart and Kwame Bamfo
Managing Director of SIKKENS buying the first, two copies for 25.5 million and
25 million cedis respectively.
Vice President Aliu Mahama,
Council of State Chairman Alex Kwapong and Kabral Blay Amihere,
The Book also captured the
political history of the country from independence to the election of President
Kufuor. The author, Agyeman-Duah said he wrote the
book to consolidate
"The book is to ensure that
for good or evil the portraits of heroes and anti-heroes of this political
journey are available as a miner's canary for later generations," he
explained. Agyeman-Duah, who has five other books to
his credit, said he would write the second edition after 2004, to assess the
success and failures of President' Kufuor's vision.
He thanked the elder sister of
President Kufuor, Obapanin Akua
Durowa for her support to the work, and also his
publisher, Agoo Media Ghana. The cover of the book
has President Kufuor's portrait and it has several
pictures of some interesting events.
GRi.../
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Apam (Central Region)
A spokesman for the Amissah family, Kofi Amissah Essandoh, a retired engineer of the Ghana Airways, told the
Ghana News Agency at Apam that the Apofohene stool belongs to the family but of late, the
leadership of the asafo companies had been trading
with the stool, selling it to the highest bidder who might not be a member of
the family.
Essandoh traced the history of the
succession of members of the Amissah family to the
stool until about 12 years ago when one Kweku Attah, who
was not a member of the family was enstooled.
He said anytime the stool became
vacant the leadership of the asafo companies demanded
replacement from the Amissah family. He said when
they protested against the enstoolment of Kweku Attah they were told that he was just a caretaker to the
stool.
"When Kweku Attah was destooled, Kwa Attoh who was also not a
member of the family was enstooled and we were again
told that he was also a caretaker." Kwa Attoh has also been destooled and
the asafo companies were preparing to enstool another man who is not from our family, he alleged,
adding "We have qualified candidates in the family to nominate to the asafo companies."
Essandoh threatened that the patience of
his side had run out over the issue and appealed to the government to intervene
to ensure that the right thing is done. "We can no longer tolerate the leadership
of the asafo companies to be denying us of our
right."
When GNA contacted Nana Kwame Ntoah IV, Tufuhene of Apam and Supi Kobena
Sakyi, leader of the Dentsi
Asafo company they both confirmed Essandor's
story. However, Supi Kobena
Ogyam of Tuafo Asafo company held a different
view saying, anybody at all could be enstooled as Apofohene of the town.
GRi.../
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