Memories of Kwadwo Ansah Ofei (1947–2005)

When our former headmaster, Joseph Abruquah, passed on in 1997, it was quite tough for me to accept his demise. Sturdy, bright and bold, he had arrived to head Mfantsipim in 1963, aged 43 years. Thinking of words to honour him – as his body lay in state in the Assembly Hall at Mfantsipim – I penned the following on the back of his funeral brochure:

All is over

Life is as fleeting as a thought

Now it illumines, strong and powerful

Now, like a floating leaf

It’s gone with the timeless wind.

When my MOBA 66 classmate and literary buddy, Ansah Ofei, died in 2005 in Accra, I was just as equally enamoured in shock. Ofei was one of the 101 students that had gathered at Kwabotwe in September 1961 as greenhorns.

We were both assigned to Pickard House. It was in sleeping side by side in the dormitory, and from the classes we took together that our lasting friendship evolved. We shared many common interests: pop music, reading, English literature, and the voluntary work camp club activities. Those experiences shaped and glued our brotherly bond.

Our literary circle

From forms 1A through 3A, we were lucky to have had teachers like Mr. John Coward, Mr. B.A. Sam, and Mr. W.C. Dwamena. Between them we were exposed to various African, English, Greek and Latin Literature. Ofei was most comfortable in the Arts. He enjoyed reading, and within our small literary circle – which included Nana Bedu-Addo (MOBA 1965) – we circulated paperback novels by Dennis Wheatley, Alberto Moravia, Ian Fleming, Peter Cheyney, D.H. Lawrence, and African writers Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, and James Ene Henshaw.

Between those writers we pored over novels like Come Into My Parlour, Woman Of Rome, the James Bond series, Never A Dull Moment, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Things Fall Apart, Jagua Nana, and This Is Our Chance. It must have been from a character in one of those books that Ofei’s nickname, Pap Dallas, evolved. We entertained each other by screening and sharing imaginative phrases, figurative language, and idioms preened from the various writers.

Once, from reading a spy novel, The Ipcress File by Len Deighton, Ofei accosted us with a figurative statement, “He artistically dismembered the duck”. He then went on to illustrate the method of the spy character, Dalby. Just like the approach to the duck dish, the spy was precise, and dissected people as in the food imagery. We relished and thrilled each other with such literary hypes till we finally parted ways in 1966.

University and professional years

In 1975, Ofei gained admission at the Philips University in Marburg, Germany, where he completed his first and second degrees. In 1981, he did a Master’s degree at the renowned Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland. In 1995, he defended his doctoral thesis at Milton Keynes, UK, and returned to Ghana thereafter joining the faculty of the University of Ghana Business School.

Variously, he had stints at Accra Polytechnic and GIMPA, and was once seconded to Parliament in a research capacity.

Since leaving school, our MOBA 66 group has remained quite close through periodic meetings and social activities. We flowed freely among the residences of our mates for beer and delicacies. Ofei was sometimes with us in those endeavours. From the warmth and affection that pervaded our get-togethers, some of our better halves were to remark that it was difficult to discern that we were not true blood brothers. That was the good side. The flip side was that the superior halves complained gently that we hardly left room for others once our boyhood jokes and vulgar escapades arrested our better instincts.

Ofei’s companionship, tenderness, and trust endeared our relationships. He was a pure soul who’d not hurt a fly. He’d argue to make his point, and then let go at that. Instinctive – and shy at his core – a few discrete friends were sufficient for his orbit.

He was to pass on after a short illness in 2005. MOBA 66 group continues to miss him and wish him well on this “undiscover’d bourn from which no traveller returns.”

He left behind his dear wife, Adelaide, and three strong boys: Yaw Titi, Kwadwo Ansah, and Kwaku Quartey.

A literary trio (1964/5): From left, Nana Bedu-Addo, Ansah Ofei, Anis Haffar

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