Pre-burial service held for Dr Evans-Anfom
A pre-burial Service has been held in honour of Dr Emmanuel Evans-Anfom, a surgeon, academician and statesman who died on April 7, 2021 in Accra.
The service was conducted by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Osu Ebenezer Congregation, at the behest of the Osu Salem Presbyterian Old Boys Association.
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Dr Evans-Anfom was the only surviving old boy among those who enrolled in the early days of the school in the late 1800s.
In attendance were his family members the congregation as well as current and old boys of the school, also referred to as Osu Salem Boys School.
The occasion was marked with singing of hymns by various singing groups of the church while tributes were read by persons whose lives were impacted by Dr Evans-Anfom who was also an active member of the church.
Concerns
The Rector of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Rev. Prof. Benhardt Quarshie, said the act of selfishness had contributed to the slow growth of the country.
He said some people in society did not value selflessness, but rather indulged in lying, cheating, greed and corruption at the expense of others.
“All the bribery and corruption going on, including the indiscipline on our roads, the destruction of the environment in the name of “galamsey” and the desire to make money at all cost is all centred on selfishness.
“It is always about what people want for themselves regardless of the impact it will have on the lives of others,” Rev. Quarshie added.
The rector asked the people to emulate the life of Dr Evans-Anfom who he said had the country at heart rather than working for personal gains.
He described him as an epitome of selflessness and humility and one who put his immediate community and country first in all he did.
“After he returned from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Dr Evans-Anfom was posted to Tarkwa; you can imagine the difference between Scotland and Tarkwa and yet he was prepared to go there for the sake of others,” Rev. Quarshie said.
Final farewell programme
The service formed part of activities lined up to celebrate Dr Evans-Anfom who will be given a state-assisted burial on Thursday, May 13, 2021.
As part of activities to give the celebrated surgeon, academician and statesman a befitting farewell, the Academy of Arts and Sciences of which he was a member, will hold a remembrance symposium today.
The body will lie in state for filing past at the PCG, Ebenezer Congregation, Osu, on Wednesday while the burial service will be at the Accra International
Conference Centre (AICC) on Thursday, May 23, 2021, an invitation-only event. This will be followed by a private burial on the same day.
Dr Evans-Anfom played many key roles in the medical field and in academia, rising to become the Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) from 1967 to 1973.
He is credited as the one who introduced matriculation at the KNUST during his tenure, an event that officially welcomes freshmen to the university and which was, subsequently, emulated by other tertiary institutions.
An old student of Achimota School, Dr Evans-Anfom became a pioneer educator in the medical field, becoming a professor at the newly established University of Ghana Medical School.
In 1958, he co-founded the Ghana Medical Association with Dr Charles Odamtten Easmon and served as President of the association from 1968 to 1970.
As a medical doctor, he worked in various health facilities in the country and the West African sub-region.
Outside his professional life, Dr Evans-Anfom accepted public appointments during the governments of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
