Samuel Twum Ampofo (ST), legendary Headmaster of Ofori Panin Secondary School (OPASS) has turned 100 years. To God be the glory. ST exemplifies what true leadership is. The late Dr John Edmund Haggai defines leadership as being: “The discipline of deliberately exerting special influence within a group to move it toward goals of beneficial permanence that fulfil the group’s real needs.” This is the essence what S. T. Ampofo stood for.
I invite you to meet the centenarian about whom I stated the following in three of my books; “I wish to place on record my gratitude to Mr S. T. Ampofo, my secondary school Headmaster at Ofori Panin. His sense of discipline, integrity and his desire to see his students become complete in all aspects of life, have contributed greatly in shaping me into what I am today.”
About 15 years ago, I was seated next to my friend and classmate Ambassador Kwasi Baah-Boakye during his late mother’s thanksgiving service at Asiakwa, when he whispered to me: “Have you seen OGA?” Now to the two of us and any of our contemporaries from OPASS, OGA could only refer to one person on earth, our Headmaster, ST. I responded in the negative and Kwasi then added, “There he is, at the organ.” I turned in excitement in the direction he pointed and, lo and behold, ST was at the organ and playing it in accompaniment to the singing by the choir and the packed congregation. What a joy it was to both of us as we saw each other. I followed him and his wife home after the service ended and ST could not hide his pleasure at seeing me.
S. T. Ampofo became Headmaster of Ofori Panin Secondary School, Kukurantumi, in September 1963, the same year I entered the school as a 12-year-old. OPASS, as the school is popularly known, was then in its third year of existence, having been established by Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, as one of the Ghana EducationTrust schools in 1961. Schools in that category include Swedru, Tema, Mfantsiman, Mpraeso, Yaa Asantewaa and Accra Girls.
Born at Asiakwa on August 1, 1925, S. T. Ampofo trained as a teacher at the Presbyterian Training College, Akropong Akuapem and continued at the Seminary there to become a Catechist. He graduated with an honours degree in history from the University College of the Gold Coast in 1957 after which he taught at Abetifi Training College before being appointed Assistant Headmaster at Swedru Secondary School, the first Ghana Education Trust School, in 1960.
It was from Swedru that ST was appointed Headmaster of Ofori Panin in 1963. He replaced Kwame Adwedaa, the first Headmaster, who had been reassigned to the newly established Ghana Atomic Energy Commission as one of the pioneering scientists.
Being only in its third year of existence, Ofori Panin was at that time a small school.
ST however proved himself to be a visionary leader. Well has it been said that leadership begins when a vision emerges. He was determined to make his students believe in themselves. He wanted them to feel prepared and adequate to rub shoulders with the best students from the then older and established schools. Above all, he wanted his students to become future leaders. I remember the “Open House” he held with us students on the school crest and motto, “Dwen na som”, meaning Think and Serve. He was persuaded that he had a mission to get us to think and serve in the truest sense by instilling in us a high sense of discipline and integrity.
Whether by coincidence or design, the earliest crop of teachers were truly brilliant and dedicated and ST pulled them along on his mission. Robert Addo-Fening (later Professor at the University of Ghana and one of Ghana’s foremost historians), V. B. Freeman (great English teacher and later Headmaster of Accra Academy), K. Twum-Danso (another wonderful English teacher who became Headmaster after ST), W. E. Amoah (Senior Housemaster who joined from Presec, Odumase), Gabriel Etu (Assistant Headmaster), J. B. Ofosu (Mathematics), Boniface Adjei (later Headmaster at New Juaben) and Susan Asomaning (American wife of Dr E. J. A. Asomaning, Director of the nearby Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana) are some of those great teachers.
Somehow he always managed to get a regular stream of US Peace Corps and Canadian volunteers to teach at the school. This may have had something to do with the environment, as the Kukurantumi and Tafo area (with the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana) is really pristine, not to mention the intellectual firepower concentrated in that corridor.
Those were the days before television. Radio reigned supreme. ST made sure that he briefed us on the latest developments in the world as reported by the BBC World Service in particular. I remember the morning he announced that Dr Albert Schweitzer had died. He went on to tell us about his great medical and humanitarian work among lepers in Central Africa. He was concerned that we should learn from the lives of pacesetters. To this end, he invited credentialed leaders to the school to speak to us on Speech and Prize Giving Days as well as on other occasions.
Eminent personalities like Mr William Ofori Atta (Paa Willie), Prof. K. Twum-Barima, Prof. Samuel Sey, Mr T. A. Osae of Prempeh College and Mr A. A. Beeko of Presec (later to become Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana), were regular visitors to the school.
ST loved sports. With his support and the presence of W. E. Amoah as Sports Coach, sports prospered at OPASS. He believed in the combination of a sound mind and a sound body. The school produced championship teams in hockey, football, athletics and table tennis, with perhaps the most famous athlete in our time being Hilda Kwabua (now Mrs Hilda Bromley). Hilda gained national prominence by setting a national record in the 880 yards.
Because the school was so new, Mr Ampofo wore many hats. He was an innovator, whose admission policy ensured that there were students from most parts of Ghana, even if the greater proportion came from the Eastern Region because of proximity. In our time, we even had two students from Kenya on Ghana Government scholarship.
One incident comes readily to mind as we celebrate ST on this historic occasion.
YEDAA AWIA (WE SLEPT IN THE AFTERNOON)
Tuesday, August 11, 2015, was a glorious and fun-filled day for a small group of five of us as we met over lunch to reconnect. The group comprised me, Prof. Kwaku Danso-Boafo (a past High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland) and now Cabinet Secretary, Justice K. N. Aduama Osei (of the Court of Appeal, now retired), Ambassador Kwasi Baah-Boakye (former envoy to Angola and Zimbabwe) and Major Fred Twum-Acheampong retd, (Sandhurst Royal Military Academy trained officer).
We had arranged to meet over lunch at a seafront location. And what a meeting it was! Fun-filled as we reminisced on our secondary school days. We all agreed that we had a great Headmaster in the person of ST.
Out of the blue one of us called out, while pointing to Major Fred Twum-Acheampong, “yεdaa awia!” meaning we slept in the afternoon. I had forgotten all about what led to that statement till Fred took us back in history. This is what happened. It was the day Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, inaugurated the Akosombo Dam and hydroelectric project. This was in January 1966 and we were in the second term of Form 3.
A slight misunderstanding had taken place at a school entertainment night while our Headmaster was away at the function. Somehow it was not managed well by the Housemaster on duty, who decided to line up a number of students he felt were causing trouble and to cane them. Fred was tagged as the ringleader of the gang, wrongly though. The students involved felt it was unfair to cane them. A small riot developed and some of the students started shouting and running around the campus. It was while this commotion was going on that ST arrived from Akosombo.
It must have been around 9.30 pm, well past “lights out.” He could not believe what he was seeing and hearing. He called the rioting students to order, lined them up and asked them why they were not in bed but rather misbehaving. ST knew everyone in the school by name as well as knowing which town or village (including Akuapem akuraa) we hailed from. When it got to the turn of Kwaku Danso-Boafo, ST exclaimed, “Are you bringing Kyebi and Abomosu behaviour here?” He was horrified when he saw Aduama Osei (a son of the manse) and asked, “Eei you too?” Then it came to the turn of Fred, and in answer to the question, why are you not in bed, Fred gave that now famous response, “Yεdaa awia,” meaning we slept in the afternoon! O what fun we had as we went back in history on those formative years. “A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones” (Proverbs 17:22 NKJV)
ST admonished us to live lives of honesty, integrity and transparency. Before examinations, he always told us that it was better to fail honourably than to pass dishonourably. At morning assembly, you could not help observing his demeanour when we sang hymns. You could tell that he was singing with meaning and conviction. His students, and those who followed after he left, are to be found in all spheres of life in both Ghana and abroad. From the Supreme Court of Ghana through to academia, to the military, police and other security services, in agriculture, law, medicine and engineering, teaching, the civil service, the diplomatic service, banking and finance, Parliament and to the executive arm of Government.
We are all testimony to the fruit of his labour and to the seeds he planted, and encouraged others to plant, leading us to live the motto, “Dwen na Som”, or Think and Serve. ST and his late wife, Margaret Lillian, got married in 1951. They have three daughters, one of who (Nancy, an Opassian), is a nationally known lawyer.
I shall end with what must certainly be one of S. T. Ampofo’s favourite scripture passages, judging by the number of times I heard him quote it when I was his student:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:23-24 KJV).
Let me say that this passage of scripture has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on me as a result.
S. T. Ampofo has lived life to the full and the results are evident in the impact his students at OPASS are making in Ghana and around the world. We thank God for his life and celebrate him on this centenary anniversary.
We need such leaders in Ghana and Africa.
The writer is a lawyer, management consultant and author.
He served as Advisor to two Governors of the Bank of Ghana.
Email: [email protected]
