Outstanding Ewes of the 20th Century : PROFILES OF FIFTEEN FIRSTS - Volume I

D. E. K. AMENUMEY

Description

Outstanding Ewes of the 20th Century PROFILES OF FIFTEEN FIRSTS Volume I D. E. K. AMENUMEY WOELI PUBLISHING SERVICES ACCRA 2014 i ii Published for the ORGANIZATION FOR RESEARCH ON EWELAND c/o P. O. Box NT 601 Accra New Town Ghana, West Africa by Woeli Publishing Services Tel:[phone] [phone] Email:[e-mail] [e-mail] © D. E. K. Amenumey, 2002 ISBN 978-9964-978-83-9 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRODUCED IN GHANA Typeset by Woeli Publishing Services, Accra Contents Prefaceand Acknowledgements Introduction 1.Dr Ephraim Amu 2. Major Seth Kobla Anthony 3.Justice Fred Kwasi Apaloo 4. Dr Raphael Ernest Grail Armattoe 5.Mr Daniel Ahmling Chapman-Nyaho 6.Reverend Dr Ferdinand Kwasi Fiawoo 7.Mr Komla Agbeli Gbedema 8. Justice Annie Ruth Jiagee (née Baeta) 9. Mr Enoch Davidson Komla Kom 10. BrigadierJoseph Edward Michel 'U*RWWOLHE .RÀ 1RDPHVL 12. Dr(Mrs) Esther Afua Ocloo (née Nkulenu) 13. MawuFe Ame Charles Kobla Nutornutsi Wovenu 14. CharityAkoshiwo Tornyewonya Zormelo-Fiawoo 15. RevMrs Victoria Ama Zormelo-Gorleku Appendices iii v vii 1 14 26 42 51 65 81 100 121 132 149 158 179 188 193 iv Preface andAcknowledgements v KLVERRNVHHNVWRGRFXPHQWWKHOLYHVDQGDFKLHYHPHQWVRIÀIWHHQ T remarkable Ewes — eleven men and four women. It is restricted to the Ewes of Ghana. For this reason a celebrity like S. E. Olympio, for example, has not been included.

Sujets

• Ghana

Informations

• Publié par: Woeli Dekutsey
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789964978839
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Outstanding Ewes of the 20th Century PROFILES OF FIFTEEN FIRSTS

Volume I

D. E. K. AMENUMEY

WOELI PUBLISHING SERVICES ACCRA 2014

i

ii

Published for the ORGANIZATION FOR RESEARCH ON EWELAND c/o P. O. Box NT 601 Accra New Town Ghana, West Africa

by

Woeli Publishing Services Tel:[phone]  [phone] Email:[e-mail]  [e-mail]

© D. E. K. Amenumey, 2002

ISBN 978-9964-978-83-9

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PRODUCED IN GHANA

Typeset by Woeli Publishing Services, Accra

Contents

 Preface and Acknowledgements  Introduction

 1. Dr Ephraim Amu  2.Major Seth Kobla Anthony  3. Justice Fred Kwasi Apaloo  4.Dr Raphael Ernest Grail Armattoe  5. Mr Daniel Ahmling Chapman-Nyaho  6. Reverend Dr Ferdinand Kwasi Fiawoo  7. Mr Komla Agbeli Gbedema  8.Justice Annie Ruth Jiagee (née Baeta)  9.Mr Enoch Davidson Komla Kom 10. Brigadier Joseph Edward Michel 11. Dr Gottlieb Koî Noamesi 12. Dr (Mrs) Esther Afua Ocloo (née Nkulenu) 13. Mawu Fe Ame Charles Kobla Nutornutsi Wovenu 14. Charity Akoshiwo Tornyewonya Zormelo-Fiawoo 15. Rev Mrs Victoria Ama Zormelo-Gorleku  Appendices

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v vii

1 14 26  42 51 65  81 100 121 132 144 149  158 179 188 193

iv

Preface andAcknowledgements

v

hisbookseekstodocumentthelivesandachievementsofîfteen T remarkable Ewes — eleven men and four women. It is restricted to the Ewes of Ghana. For this reason a celebrity like S. E. Olympio, for example, has not been included. Again only historical persons, not mythical îgures are celebrated in it. The reader will therefore not înd any account, for example, of Tsali whose exploits according to traditions far surpass those attributed to Komfo Anokye of Asante. The celebrities examined were born between 1891 and 1926 and lived under varying conditions and circumstances and during different phases of the history of the country. Their activities covered such areas as Education, Religion, Culture, the Creative Arts, Industry, Medical Research, Administration, Public Service, Politics, Military and Prison Service. But a common thread runs through a study of their careers. They demonstrate certain common attributes and personality traits. Irrespective of their individual areas of work, what their stories demonstrate are determination, singleness of purpose, hard work and the will to succeed. Another lesson to be drawn from their careers is that, even if one comes from a lowly background, and irrespective of whatever obstacles one encounters, one can still aspire to excellence and achieve it. In this day and age when the youth seem to have lost all sense of direction and seem to be oundering in the confusion of the appeal of conicting lifestyles, it is worthwhile to hold up to them the examples of these celebrities to inspire them to comparable achievements not only for their own good but ultimately for the beneît of the nation and humanity at large. The writing of this book, which is îrst of a series, could not have been completed without the encouragement and support of friends, well wishers and collaborators. I am grateful, îrst of all, to the ‘celebrities’ and their relatives who provided me with written and oral information, responded to my questions and in some cases vetted drafts of relevant chapters of the book. I also

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thank Messrs E. A. K. Kalitsi, S. A. Okudzeto, A. C. K. Chapman, and S. A. Tetterviah who put me in touch with Major Seth Anthony, Justice Fred Apaloo, Mr D. A. Chapman-Nyaho and Mrs Barbara Gbedema respectively. Col C. K. Tevie and Mr C. D. K. Kudiabor also helped in obtaining photographs of Major Seth Anthony and Brigadier J. C. Michel; and Mr R. E. G. Armattoe, Mr D. A. Chapman-Nyaho, Mr K. A. Gbedema and Rev F. K. Fiawoo respectively. I gratefully acknowledge the kind permission of the Head of the Judicial Service, Ghana Army and Prisons Service to consult the personal îles of their former staff for my research. Mrs Josephine G. Acquah and Mr Peter Baidoo of the Department of History, University of Cape Coast, who have developed the rare skill of deciphering my handwriting, deserve special mention for typing the îrst drafts of the various chapters. Professor Francis Agbodeka, the General Editor of the Studies on Eweland Series read through all the chapters and offered useful advice. To all these wonderful people I register my deepest gratitude.

PROF D. E. K. AMENUMEY

Introduction

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hanaian traditional education has always placed a lot of G emphasis on recounting the achievements of societal heroes and heroines as a way of imparting a valuable lesson to the youth that is, to inspire them to emulate such achievements. Again, during the period of their conînement prior to outdooring, chiefs are taught not only the history of their stool, but the exploits of their predecessors so that they would have a model or models on whom to mould their lives. In Western European societies biographies constitute a very important genre of writing which plays a very useful civic and political role. In Ghana the value of biographies has long been appreciated but the output has been uneven. This is because even though the authors of works published so far were covering the entire country, they adopted rather narrow criteria for choosing their heroes or heroines, or failed to include all those persons who qualiîed under their own criteria. J. E. Casely Hayford and Rev S. R. B. Attoh Ahumah belong to the îrst category of authors while Magnus J. Sampson and Dr I. S. Ephson belong to the second. In the early days of national consciousness, nationalists like J. E. Casely Hayford (1896, 1897) and Rev S. R. B. Attoh Ahumah (1905) published biographies of a number of outstanding men of the Gold Coast “for the speciîc purpose of fostering racial and national pride.” Their subjects included Henrik Vroom, George Ekem Ferguson, Christian Prottern, Philip Quaque, Ottobah Cuguano and Anton William Amo. E. J. P. Brown and Nana Annor Adjaye went over the same ground in abridged forms in their publications in 1929 and 1931 respectively. In 1937 Magnus J. Sampson published a much bigger volume, Gold Coast Men of Affairs (Past and Present). His selection of the persons worthy of study was rather subjective. He stated: “This volume makes no pretence to chronicle the lives of all the notable worthies of this country who have equal claim to the merited honour of publicity, since I have been inuenced in making

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my choice by the men whose stories seem to be outstanding, interesting and instructive in order to serve as an example of what others have accomplished or are accomplishing.” But he did not look far aîeld for his entries. Again, in his three-volume Gallery of Gold Coast Celebrities (1969–1973) Dr I. S. Ephson too was not comprehensive in his selection of biographies. It is obvious that he must have been aware of the limitations of his work. He tried to justify his selection in the preface to Volumes II and III: “It must also be pointed out that my aim is not to allocate chapters to so-called important persons according to the various regions of Ghana or the various ethnic groups just as a Prime Minister would do in forming his Cabinet or a Legislature (Lower House) would look for equal representation for each and every constituency in the country after parliamentary elections.” He alluded to lack or scarcity of written records on certain parts of the country and those hailing therefrom, especially in the remote past. He then asserted that “the most important consideration in all these matters, I should think, is whether the celebrity or leader in question was Ghanaian or not, whether he was knowledgeable, experienced, honest or made an appreciable and worthwhile contribution to the progress and advancement of this country, to civilization or to knowledge generally (as, say, the philosopher Prof William Anton Amo of Nzima or the medico-scientist Dr R. E. G. Armattoe, Ewe).” It is clear that Dr Ephson did not look hard enough in choosing his entries. The result of all this is that while, for example, Sampson and Ephson listed 141 entries only six of these come from Ewe territory. A wide gap therefore remains to be îlled and this is what we have embarked upon to rectify. Under the inspiration of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Dr W. E. B. du Bois, the Ghana Academy of Learning inaugurated the Encyclopaedia Africana Project in 1962. In 1964 an African Editorial Board, on which 22 African states were represented, decided that National Co-operating Committees should be established in the various contributing states. It was also decided to initiate the project by publishing biographical articles dealing with the personalities of the past who had inuenced the history

Introduction

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and development of their various countries. It was further decided that no living person should feature in the biographical series. The Ghana National Co-operating Committee of the Project, which was appointed in 1974, went to work and in 1977 Volume I of the Dictionary of African Biography: Ethiopia-Ghana was published. The Ghana portion contained 140 entries. Subsequent to the publication of that book, the Co-operating Committee continued to compile a dictionary of national biography of eminent Ghanaians who had not been featured in the African Biography or who had died since 1974. A fair amount of material was collected. Before arrangements could be made to publish it, the 31 December 1981 coup occurred. The dissolution of the Council for Higher Education which was the parent body of the Co-operating Committee ended the latter’s activities. This removed the possibility of îlling the gaps in the published material on national heroes and heroines. It is this development that inspired the publication of the present work. Since 1961 I have undertaken the study of various aspects of Ewe history pre-colonial, colonial and post- colonial. It is this study that has revealed to me material on a lot more Ewe people who merit national notice than have been featured in the existing biographical collections so far. It is worthy to note that Mr Kojo K. Vieta’s The Flagbearers of Ghana: Proîles of the One Hundred Distinguished Ghanaians included ten entries of Ewe great men. However, in the present volume, the persons who are featured are not just eminent Ewes, they are îrst in their vocations in the entire country, and in a few cases, îrst in Africa or the British Commonwealth. Subsequent volumes will feature others who were the pioneers in their individual spheres of work among the Ewes. The aim of this project is simple to publicize the achievement of some otherwise unknown sons and daughters of this country and to inspire the present generation to strive, at least,to emulate if not surpass their achievements. Two of the biographies of this volume have been featured by other authors, namely, Dr Armattoe by Dr I. S. Ephson and Dr Amu by Mr F. M. Agyeman. No comprehensive study of the others has been published before now. This book assembles for the îrst time information on the