The Bells of Legon have not slept all night
Their message is ominous and foreboding
The gargantuan forest-tree of Legon
Is up-rooted
Ghana’s Premier University, the citadel of knowledge, is without its Lord
The hearth of the citadel has gone cold
Ghana’s depository of light and knowledge is no more
Academically, Ghana is crudely shaken.
How does one begin to express the numbed feeling of loss and emptiness at the news of the passing away of Prof Alexander Adum Kwapong, the first Ghanaian Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana and the beacon to all who cherished the institution as our first and foremost University? Where can one find words adequate and appropriate to do homage and pay tribute to a man who was so divine and yet so human in touch.
Alex was the archetypal gentle giant, the prince who walked with the high and the mighty but never lost the common touch, the man who was clothed with greatness but won hearts and minds with simple humanity and transparent warmth; the man with a commanding presence but an affable demeanour.
Career in Education
Professor Kwapong was revered, respected and loved alike by his family and all who came to know him. He made the career in education an attractive concept and a sure path to service – both to nation and the world. As vice-chancellor, he was seminally successful, remarkably transformative and undeniably stupendous by wide acclaim. Paying public homage to him presented no qualms to no one, whether Vandals, Vikings, or Farmers of the University — because it appeared so natural to show respect to one who was obviously deserving of it.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, the immortal bard, Professor Alex Adum Kwapong, was “every inch an academician”.
First meeting
We first met the Kwapongs in 1961 when we lived at South Legon. It was Dr. Thomas Mensah who introduced us to them. Alex took strong interest in me when he got to know that my O-level subjects for the Cambridge School Examination included Latin, Greek and Add Maths. Our relationship became closer when both families moved to Golders Green, London during the early part of the 1980s.
Our cordial and long standing association with Alex has convinced us that he was a ‘real human being’. In the well known Akan phraseology describing a habitually good person, Alex was onipa dodo or onipa paa.
He showed this humanity in every sphere of his life; but what impressed us most was his ecumenical attitude. This was visibly demonstrated when Alex, agreed to be a member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University College of Ghana, Fiapre, of which I was the Vice Chairman, while he declined membership of the Council of the University College of the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a life-long member.
His reason was that the Catholics had approached him first, and he was grateful for the honour! That was Alex, always frank and ready to give credit where credit was due, regardless of religious affiliation, or race or political persuasion!! This was impartiality at its best.
Alex encouraged me to complete the book on The Danquah-Busia Tradition in the Politics of Ghana. We were thrilled to bits when he agreed to write the Foreword to the book. Our immeasurable gratitude to him was heightened by the fact that he was asked at short notice and at a time when age was catching up with him. It was important for us that the Foreword should be written by someone who was not only personally knowledgeable about many of the events referred to in the chronicle but who also had a sufficiently high profile in the history and current affairs of Ghana.
Professor Kwapong’s handling of the Foreword was both comprehensive and balanced. The mutual respect between him and Kantinka is easily discernable from what he had to say: “This formidable son of Asante is by profession a financial and business expert, not a historian; but he writes as one who has been either a witness of the matters that he writes about or close to the inner workings and personalities of the various parties of the Danquah-Busia persuasion to which he is passionately devoted. He writes well and fluently.
His book makes interesting reading and should be a useful guide especially to the younger generation of Ghanaians who may not be so well informed about the Danquah-Busia Tradition.
“Kantinka Kwame Fordwor devotes the bulk of this book, over two thirds of it, to a thoughtful and informative survey of this nation’s political history, from its status as a model British African colony, the Gold Coast, to its attainment of political independence as the modern state of Ghana in 1957 under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the fifty years of national independence up to date. Most of what Donkoh Fordwor has to say in this greater portion of his account of Ghana’s political evolution will be regarded by experts and non-experts, opponents and supporters alike, as generally accurate, sensible and non-controversial”.
His death has forced all of us to accept that the irreplaceable Ghanaian oak tree, with its wide branches providing shade to all, has fallen; and we are now at the mercy of the hot sun and the wet rain. To us he was more than just a great and influential public figure. With his passing we have lost a source of inspiration. We have been deprived of what has been an unfailing fountain of kindness, generosity and gracious courtesies.
On July 21, 1992, it became necessary for me to fly to Vancouver for a two day Board Meeting. Prof Kwapong, our neighbour at Golders Green, London, was then the Director for Africa Programme at The Commonwealth of Learning at Vancouver, British Columbia. He invited me to stay with him from July 21 through 23 at his apartment at Albine Place, which was only 10 Blocks from The Four Season Hotel where I expected most of my colleague directors would stay.
Unfortunately, when the plane landed I was received by his daughter who told me that her Daddy had had to leave town suddenly for a meeting in Toronto, but had instructed her to pick me from the airport and play host to me.
Tokyo visit
This showed the man; generous, kind hearted and concerned for his fellow human being, even at some inconvenience to himself. Nor was this the first act of kindness from him. In 1974 I visited him in Tokyo. I was there to negotiate with six Aluminium companies (Ardeco) about the possibility of their joining Kaiser to do a feasibility study into establishing an alumina project in Ghana. Alex was at his best when he entertained me and the Japanese at dinner.
So, in saying a sad farewell to you, our dear Alex, my wife and I take consolation from the fact that those of us who studied under your tutelage, or had the good fortune to know you as a person, have been uniquely privileged to experience your stature as a human being of unusual dimensions.
We thank the Almighty for the many gifts he was pleased to shower on you. We pray that the comfort, strength and peace of the Lord will descend on your wife, children and grandchildren, close family members, and the friends and grateful compatriots that you have left behind. We can only give thanks to God and praise His name for what we have received and shared with you, our dear Alexander.
How better can we bid him goodbye than by recalling the words of the elegy by Albius Tibullus, the ancient poet of the era before Christ?
“Bene placideque quiescas, Teraque securae sit super ossa Levis”
“Sleep well and peacefully, and above thy untroubled ashes may the earth be light.”
