Gladys Asmah: In Memoriam - A Matter of Decorum

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

I have seen the caption, but I have yet to read the news item in which Mr. K. B. Asante is reported to have described Ghana as a "Banana Republic." You may not agree with the man - and I have had more than several occasions to disagree with him - but one thing is certain: And it is that at 90 years old, and having led a life that most Ghanaians can only dream about, KB, as Mr. Asante is widely known, ought to know what he is talking about, when the former Nkrumah associate calls Ghana a Banana Republic. After all, wasn't Nkrumah's Ghana a quintessential Banana Republic? We shall take up this topical issue in the offing.

For now, though, I have decided to take this discursive opportunity to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Mrs. Gladys Asmah, former Minister of Women And Children's Affairs in the Kufuor-led government of the New Patriotic Party and subsequently, Minister for Fisheries. Indeed, President Kufuor may not have been born on our coastal corridor, but he definitely had a good sense of whom to appoint to take good care of the men, and women, in the seafood business.

As Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, the daughter of the legendary Chief Asebu Amenfi was known to have creditably acquitted herself. I had almost totally forgotten all about her, particularly regarding her fierce struggle to help retain the New Patriotic Party at the helm of affairs during the lame-duck period of President John Agyekum-Kufuor, until the earlier false announcement of her passing at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital made the banner headlines last week.

That rude announcement, and publication, was promptly and vehemently debunked by her family, friends and relatives. We had all hoped that however grave her condition might have been, that at 78 years old, Mrs. Asmah still had enough of the proverbial fighting spirit in her to survive and help carry on the noble task of nation-building. Alas, that was not to be.

At any rate, when I read the vehement debunking of the earlier false announcement of Mrs. Asmah's passing, I heaved a leaden sigh of wistfulness and simply told myself that it was just a matter of time before her all-too-common mortal race against the Leveller ended all the speculations one way or another. And so the Almighty Death has spoken with deliberate finality, as that age-old Akan maxim goes; and all we can do is hang our heads low and silently mourn the demise of this brave and sagacious daughter of our soil.

What really inspired me to write this mournful tribute is the imperative need for Ghanaian society to open up more about the lives and health status of our most beloved leaders, especially those who have distinguished themselves and are thus cherished by the bulk of our citizenry. For instance, if daily briefings had been frankly held with the media by the relatives and stalwarts of the New Patriotic Party, Mrs. Asmah's state of health would not have so vulgarly become fair grist of scandalous rumors and speculations. It would also have made the official announcement of the final event all the more understandable and dignified. For in the realm of the purely human, death is a necessary capstone, or climax, to the fully and well-lived life.

Adieu, Mama Gladys!

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNY
Garden City, New York
Board Member, The Nassau Review
June 24, 2014
E-mail: [email protected]
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