Ghana Life: Meeting Ghana's Rulers

One major bit of leeway of living and working in a little nation is the more noteworthy open door gave to meet conspicuous individuals, even PMs, military tyrants and heads of state. During twenty-six years in Ghana I had the option to meet a few of the noticeable people who held power all through the period 1971 to 1997. At the point when I previously landed in Ghana on 3 February 1971, Mr. E Akuffo-Addo was President however the individual accountable for the government was Prime Minister Dr. K A Busia. Throughout the following eleven years there were five changes of the system until the 'second happening to' Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on 31 December 1981 proclaimed a time of 19 years and seven days of whole rule.
I lament that I never had a chance to meet Dr. Busia, however, I saw him once tending to an enormous group collected in the market square of Konongo. Dr. Busia's administration had solicited the Kwame Nkrumah University from Science and Technology (KNUST) to attempt an overview of Suame Magazine in Kumasi, Ghana's biggest casual modern zone or Kokomo. As a recently shown up engineer I was approached to join the examination group and in this manner started a profession long association with the advancement of little scale endeavors.
A lot shockingly I found that the college understudies had shaped the feeling that there was a lot of defilement in Dr Busia's system, and the military overthrow of Colonel I K Acheampong on 13 January 1972 was at first welcomed with some excitement. This energy had altogether dissipated by 1976 when I was solicited by the Vice-Chancellor from KNUST to mount a represent the college at the Second Ghana International Trade Fair. It was my respect to welcome the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council at the Trade Fair Site in Accra and show him around the college's presentation. My memory is of a solid formally dressed military figure pointing at each show thusly with his general's implement.
I K Acheampong was expelled from office by his associate General F W K Akuffo on 5 July 1978. I never had the joy of meeting General Akuffo during his concise eleven months in the office however I knew his cousin, additionally called Fred Akuffo, who was an individual specialist on the scholarly staff of KNUST. I once inquired as to whether he had met his cousin since he assumed control over the reins of government. He answered that he had arrived at the house once however was discouraged from entering by the security game plans. To know about the life of Ghana in detail visit here https://ghanatoday.net/.
At the point when Flight Lieutenant J Rawlings affected his first upset on 4 June 1979, he had both I K Acheampong and F W K Akuffo executed by terminating squad, alongside another previous head of state, General An Afrifa, and nine others. A couple of days after the fact Rawlings came to KNUST to address the understudies and staff of the college. The progressive chief was welcomed with a lot of energy and the understudies called for increasingly degenerate individuals to share the destiny of the well known three. Be that as it may, the charming youngster with a splendid orange appearance appeared reprimanded by his savage deed and declined to be brought into a reiteration.
After a general political race, Rawlings gave over to the chosen President Hilla Limann on 24 September 1979. I didn't meet Dr. Hilla Limann however I knew his Deputy President, Dr. Joseph W S DeGraft-Johnson, genuinely well as the previous chief of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) with its base camp on the KNUST grounds. On one event after supper at his home in Kumasi, I heard the future VP pronounce to visiting American teachers that the British professed to have abrogated subjugation in the Gold Coast 'however despite everything we have slaves in our homes.' One must expect that it was the liquor talking and that his perspectives had proceeded onward before he got down to business, yet the Limann system was likewise viewed as degenerate and Rawlings was invited back by the understudy network when he arranged his arrival on 31 December 1981.
Long stretches of outrageous starkness pursued and Jerry John Rawlings had lost his energetic sparkle when I, at last, met him face to face in 1986. It was the event of the first Indutech Fair and indeed I was approached to lead the KNUST presentation. The Secretary of State for Industries, Science and Technology, Dr. Francis Acquah, was looking for bureau support for the GRATIS Project and guaranteed that the primary display visited by the Head of State on an opening day would be that of KNUST. Rawlings indicated significantly more enthusiasm than his forerunner in what the college was doing to advance little scale modern improvement. A couple of months after the fact Dr. Acquah was given the thumbs up to set up Intermediate Technology Transfer Units (ITTU) in each of the ten districts of Ghana, after the example of the college's spearheading ventures at Suame Magazine in Kumasi and at Tamale in the Northern Region.
It is once in a while said that Ghanaians regard their conventional rulers more than they do their chosen lawmakers. The leader of the Ashantis, with his stool in Kumasi, is the Asantehene. All through my time in Ghana, the stool was involved by Otumfuo Nana Opoku-Ware II, Asantehene from 6 July 1970 to 25 February 1999. I initially met Otumfuo when looking for his help in applying for the government subsidizing for the first ITTU at Suame Magazine. His letter to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning accomplished the ideal outcome. Otumfuo took an unmistakable fascination for the issues of KNUST and regularly went to gatherings on the grounds. He never neglected to get some information about the advancement of the ITTU. On one visit to the Manhyia Palace, I have agreed on the respect of marking the guest's book. I couldn't resist seeing that the past endorser was the then present British High Commissioner to Ghana.
In the wake of leaving Ghana in 1997, I imagined that my chances to meet Ghanaian rulers had died. Be that as it may, in 2003 I was gotten back to Kumasi for the honor of a privileged DSc. Causing me a deep sense of joy, President John A Kufuor was available to praise the alumni on their honors. It was additionally satisfying to find that the President's sibling, a long-term scholastic partner and previous Head of the Chemistry Department, was then Chairman of the University Council. President Kufuor (2001 to 2009) was Ghana's first head of state to enter the office and leave office by reasonable and free races. In the wake of living in Ghana through the tempestuous long periods of upsets and counter-overthrows, curfews and grounds clearances, it was lovely to witness the advanced time of tranquil equitable advancement.