-
Perseverance Conquers All: The Autobiography of Kantinka Kwame Donkor Fordwor
As a very poor boy, Kantinka sustained himself in school by selling firewood. He walked four miles every day from village, Breman, to Kumasi to attend school. He recounts how by dint of hard work, he sailed through elementary and secondary school to the Graduate School of Wharton even though fate had prevented him from doing sixth form studies. He recollects how at St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, he was cured of a strange disease by a traditional priest. His beloved wife had to discontinue her studies to help him complete his. Kantinka thus passed through a darkness of life which continued in his working life.
His decision to provide a house for the Executive Chairman of the Capital Investments Board, in order to save the Board huge sums of money in rent payments, was so maliciously interpreted that he was editorially castigated and lambasted. His ingenious polices that eventually helped to raise the capital of the African Development Bank from US $200 million to US $100 billion was rewarded with his dismissal as the President of the Bank.
He incurred the ire of his enemies for the appreciation he received from three Kings of Asante Kingdom.
Perseverance Conquers All portrays these midnight sides of Kantinka’s life to let his sun shine brightly. His wife gave him six children any father could wish for, whom he educated as a very responsible father. Providence made him help Ghana in its financial difficulties when he became the virtual Minister of Finance during the reign of Colonel Acheampong. His input to the progress of the Catholic Church has even been more monumental as explained beautifully in the book. Kantinka is indeed the sun at midnight.
Reliance on God, patriotism, philanthropy, hard work, good family life, good parenthood, honesty, and magnanimity is what this life story portrays. This is a book that all must have and read: the student as well as the teacher; the Christian, husband and patriot.
₵90.00 -
Special Book Launch Set: Autographed Hardcover of From Achinakrom to Pro-Vice Chancellor (plus paperback and Emancipation book)
This is a special launch set – limited – that includes an autographed copy of the hardcover of Prof Florence Dolphyne’s new autobiography, a paperback version of the autobiography and a copy of her best-selling book The Emancipation of Women: An African Perspective.
Blurb for the Autobiography
An autobiography serves the purpose of relating experiences of the writer. These are usually personal experiences and readers can draw inspiration from such experiences.
This is a book written by a renowned academician, but unlike many books written by academics, it reads like a story written by an accomplished novelist. It tells the story of a girl of very humble parentage who was able, by dint of hard work and divine providence, to make it to the very apex of academia. It is a book that tells the story of ‘Mmofraturo’, synonymous with the training of girls to influence their world before the advent of militant feminism. It is a story that gives another peep at the practice of racism in Europe.
But then, it is also the book that confirms the subtle discrimination that women are often subjected to in our education system, even at the highest level.
Moreover, it is a story that tells the history of the practice of education in Ghana over a number of decades. Then, the writer draws us into the age-old issue of family life, foster children, biological children, and the Ghanaian family set up.
From Achinakrom to Pro-Vice Chancellor is a book about friendship and love that tells the story of women, individually and in groups trying to help make others enjoy the life of work and leisure. Furthermore, this book gives a hint that speaking one’s first language can be the source of the survival of an individual in certain critical situations.
This inspiring story is also a personal history of Ghana from pre-independence by someone who has helped to shape Ghana’s education system, women’s rights during the UN Decade for Women, and human rights through Ghana’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is a story of a phenomenal woman who has made Ghana and Achinakrom proud.
₵200.00 -
From Achinakrom to Pro-Vice Chancellor: Autobiography of Florence Abena Dolphyne
An autobiography serves the purpose of relating experiences of the writer. These are usually personal experiences and readers can draw inspiration from such experiences.
This is a book written by a renowned academician, but unlike many books written by academics, it reads like a story written by an accomplished novelist. It tells the story of a girl of very humble parentage who was able, by dint of hard work and divine providence, to make it to the very apex of academia. It is a book that tells the story of ‘Mmofraturo’, synonymous with the training of girls to influence their world before the advent of militant feminism. It is a story that gives another peep at the practice of racism in Europe.
But then, it is also the book that confirms the subtle discrimination that women are often subjected to in our education system, even at the highest level.
Moreover, it is a story that teils the history of the practice of education in Ghana over a number of decades. Then, the writer draws us into the age-old issue of family life, foster children, biological children, and the Ghanaian family set up.
From Achinakrom to Pro-Vice Chancellor is a book about friendship and love that tells the story of women, individually and in groups trying to help make others enjoy the life of work and leisure. Furthermore, this book gives a hint that speaking one’s first language can be the source of the survival of an individual in certain critical situations.
This inspiring story is also a personal history of Ghana from pre-independence by someone who has helped to shape Ghana’s education system, women’s rights during the UN Decade for Women, and human rights through Ghana’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is a story of a phenomenal woman who has made Ghana and Achinakrom proud.
₵70.00 – ₵100.00 -
J. A. Braimah: Biography of a Trailblazer (Hardcover)
This well researched book is not just a biography of the first-ever Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister from Northern Ghana, but a packed chronicle of the stormy political period of the pre- and immediate post-independent Ghana, narrated through the lens of a man in whose soul the development of Ghana – and Northern Ghana in particular – burns. It highlights the slow but momentous inclusion of Northern Ghana in the affairs of the Gold Coast.
The mistrust that characterized the relationship between Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the leaders of Northern Ghana, which culminated in the formation of the Northern Peoples Party, and Northern Ghana’s struggle for a dignified independence; makes this biography a must have for scholars, students, politicians and all who are interested in the twists and turns of this period.
₵100.00₵150.00J. A. Braimah: Biography of a Trailblazer (Hardcover)
₵100.00₵150.00 -
To the Thirsty Land: Autobiography of a Patriot by Emmanuel Evans-Anfom
Emmanuel Evans-Anfom, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 101 years, was considered a living legend in Ghana.
He was one of the great pioneers of the medical profession in that country, as well as serving as Vice Chancellor for The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. His memoirs span his lifetime from the end of colonial rule through four and a half decades of independent Ghana. They tell the story of his early upbringing in James Town, the seminal impact of Achimota College on his education and career, and his medical training at Edinburgh University in wartime Britain. At the peak of his professional career, Evans-Anfom was one of the leading surgeons of the country and a renowned educationalist.
₵130.00 – ₵180.00To the Thirsty Land: Autobiography of a Patriot by Emmanuel Evans-Anfom
₵130.00 – ₵180.00 -
Queen Kitami Makes Friends (Africa’s Little Kings & Queens)
Age Range: 3 – 8 years
Meet Queen Kitami, the playful leader of Mpororo. She’s faced with having to make new friends, which hasn’t been easy, but she has a plan!
Queen Kitami Makes Friends is a rhyming story introducing you to a playful and courageous friend.
This is a fictional story based on a real-life warrior Queen Kitami-kya-Nyawera, leader of the Mpororo Kingdom, now part of modern-day Uganda, East Africa. A special series perfect for introducing the next generation of young leaders, thinkers and game-changers to Africa’s great history.
₵55.00 -
Not My Time to Die
“Reading Yolande Mukagasana’s book in French at the age of 15 changed my life.”- Gaël Faye
Originally published as La mort ne veut pas de moi in 1997, this book was the first survivor testimony to be published about the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In 1994 Yolande was an unconventional nurse and mother of three who enjoyed wearing jeans and designer glasses. She ran her own clinic in Nyamirambo and was planning a party for her wedding anniversary. But when genocide started everything changed. Targeted because she was a successful Tutsi woman, she was separated from her family and had to flee for her life.
Mukagasana’s gripping memoir describes the betrayal of friends and help that came from surprising places. Quick-witted and courageous, Yolande never lost hope she would find her children alive.
Translated from the French by Zoe Norridge.
₵100.00Not My Time to Die
₵100.00 -
Destiny and Politics: A Biography of Hon. Samuel Sallas-Mensah
From a humble beginning as the son of a farmer in a relatively small town, Hon. Samuel Sallas-Mensah, four terms MP for Upper West Akim would perhaps have ended up as a farmer too. In those days, children took after their parents’ trades. Sallas got the chance to go to America and the entire course of his life changed. After a distinguished career in accountancy in the US and later in Nigeria, destiny led his way once more but this time to the country of his birth, Ghana, where eventually, a new career window opened in his life – politics.
As a Member of the Consultative Assembly his accounting and financial acumen were in evidence as he actively contributed to the District Assembly Common Fund. And as a Member of Parliament he was instrumental in instituting the live television coverage of the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee – legacies to the nation that survive today.
In this compelling biography the reader come face-to-face with this influential man of few words who is famed to have friends and access to both sides of the Ghanaian political divide. But what would Sallas be remembered for most, a politician, a chartered accountant or family man? More importantly, where else will destiny lead him to?
“Crispy-delicious narratives, refreshingly-garnished insights. This fascinating biography of a patriot never finishes astonishing you with the twists and turns. But it is the authoritative revelations about a nation and its people that makes this book destined to be relevant to the politics of Ghana.” ~ Business & Financial Times
₵45.00 -
Justice Daniel Francis Annan: In the Service of Democracy
Justice Annan’s public service in Ghana’s recent history embodies how an individual, acting in concert with compatriots, can direct the course of history using institutions which may prevail at a specific conjuncture in that history.
The objective of producing this biography of Justice Annan is to extrapolate from his life as a public servant, especially during the critical period of 1982- 1992 when he was a key member of the PNDC, and the 1993 – 2000 when he was Speaker of the first and second Parliaments of the Fourth Republic, the lessons and insights that add value to the existing knowledge of how social and political dynamics are purposefully managed even in the most challenging times; and how key institutions like Parliament are nurtured in a nascent democracy to literally turn dust into gold. The weight of the biography therefore leans heavily on Justice Annan’s public service during the two periods indicated above.
This biography was sponsored by the IDEG under its Senior Citizen Scholar in Residence Programme, which is non-partisan and open to all who have distinguished themselves in rendering service to our dear country Ghana. We hope that this publication will inspire institutions and individual philanthropists, both Ghanaian and foreign, to contribute generously to the funding of the programme. The programme aims at deepening our knowledge and understanding of the momentous conjunctures in our history that have shaped the content and trajectory of Ghana’s young democratic state.
₵160.00 -
Art and the Power of Goodness: A Collection of John Agyekum Kufuor (Hardcover)
**Available from 16 June 2021
FOREWORD BY GORDON BROWN, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
There is a strong correlation between art and power and in this book, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, a cultural and literary historian, looks at it from the art collection of the former President of Ghana – John Agyekum Kufuor.
From a matrilineal household in Kumasi that is connected to the visual and palace art in the ancient imperial Kingdom of Ashanti, Kufuor travelled the world from Oxford into the pantheon of great personages and power. Along the way, whether in villages in Ethiopia or among the Maasai in Kenya, across the Maghreb into Morocco, infatuation with the Persia classical period, Ottoman or Asia Minor’s remains of modern day Turkey, northern Lebanon and parts of Greater Asia, some of these acquisitions came by way of gifts and purchases.
They reflect family life and belief, ancient trade relations and routes as well as patterns of contemporary geo-politics. It could be through Benin bronze sculpture with facial stratifications or of metal smelted Malian Islamic crusaders on horseback or a herdsman from a Sahel water well.
These works, seventy of which form the basis of this book with few external ones, include resistance art in the fashion of the ‘empire fights back’ against British West African colonial conflict engagements and resultant Independence.
₵200.00 -
Tetteh Quarshie, The Star to Follow
In this book, Dr. Nii Amu Darko outlines the life of his ancestor Tetteh Quarshie and how he brought cocoa, Ghana’s number one cash crop to Ghana. He outlines the great man’s family background and adventurous trip to Fernando Po where he spent seven years on a cocoa plantation learning everything he possibly could about the cash crop. Dr. Nii Darko dubs Tetteh Quarshie the star to follow for his dedication and unique qualities as a hardworking, ethical, selfless son of Ghana who toiled to bring the crop that became the backbone of Ghana’s economy. Especially interesting is how Darko tells the unique story of Tetteh Quarshie from the family point of view, revealing intriguing titbits never before known by the public.
₵40.00 -
The Stars Are Ageless
A young woman who chooses love. A daughter who must repay her mother’s sacrifices. A filmmaker accused of stealing her own creation. A woman held up by faith, family and true friendship when her world is rocked to its very foundation. Omoni Oboli has played as many roles in life as she has on the big screen. But a movie ends and life goes on.
The Stars are Ageless presents the true story of the woman hailed as “The Box Office Queen” of Nigerian cinema.
These life experiences shaped Omoni into who she is, and promise that we will see much more from her.
-
A Memoir of a Pragmatic Ghanaian Diplomat
A Memoir of a Pragmatic Ghanaian Diplomat has fulfilled one of the author’s dreams since joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Accra, in October 1974.
The book gives brief historical analyses of the Ga Adangme ethnic group of Ghana and Ghana as a former colony under British rule, 1844-1957. It traces the author’s early years and schooling, his undergraduate and post-graduate studies at the University of Ghana, Legon (1982-86 & 1989-90), as well as his studies at the University of Sierra-Leone (IPAM), Freetown (1992) and the China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing (2010).
The book touches on the author’s diplomatic career in Japan, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Great Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, where he served in various capacities, the last position being Minister, in Tripoli. It also depicts the author’s private life as a Chorister and Member of the Ghana Red Cross Society.
The book further deals with the author’s assignments as Deputy Director of Passports, Deputy Director of State Protocol Office and his attachment to the office of His Excellency Alhaji Aliu Mahama (of blessed memory), former Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana. The book chronicles other duties the author performed at the Foreign Ministry, Accra, namely, in Administration, Finance and Accounts, Inspectorate and Audit, Americas, Europe, Africa & Regional Integration, International Organisations and Conferences, Information and Linguistics, as well as Middle East and Asia Bureaux.
The book reviews risks, uncertainties and pressures in the Diplomatic Service and how to deal with them. It chronicles the rights, responsibilities and obligations of Diplomats, as well as the essence of doing things befitting the status of Diplomats.
In the penultimate chapter, the author makes a proposal for the establishment of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Practical Training Institute in Acera to deal exclusively with practical diplomacy, diplomatic orientation and preparation of ambassadors-designate and officers for postings to Ghana Missions abroad, to ensure effectiveness, efficiency, professionalism and sense of curiosity in diplomatic assignments abroad and at home.
The author retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in February 2011, having worked for almost 36 years – his last post in Accra being Director of the Middle East and Asia Bureau of the Foreign Ministry.
The author was married to Mrs. Dorothy Nana Ama Allotey (of blessed memory) and has four children: David, Mavis, Deborah and Ruth. Mr. Allotey’s book, Ghana’s Foreign Policy in Comparison with That of Japan and Russia Since 1960 is a good textbook for students of International Relations and Diplomacy and all who desire to understand the intricate workings of foreign policy and their effects on our daily lives.
₵75.00 -
My Media Journey
This book is the autobiographical account of a young Ghanaian man’s unplanned entry into his country’s vibrant broadcasting industry at the turn of the century, and his largely triumphant yet occasionally tumultuous journey through it.
Although his father, Sam Clegg, had been a fixture of journalism as a formidable national newspaper editor for nearly a decade, from 1983 to 1992, Robert Nii Arday Clegg wasn’t drawn instinctively to the media. Young Clegg appeared to have fallen some distance away from the old tree that fruited him. It took a fair bit of coaxing and cajoling to bring him round to broadcasting, initially as a university campus studio cub, transitioning subsequently into the major leagues of radio talk show hosts in Ghana. The obstruction all along, he reveals, was his first love – no, not Mimi his beloved girlfriend who he was to marry later, but the Law profession.
My Media Journey is candid, completely unencumbered by flattery or camouflage. Clegg doesn’t dress b.s. up in make-up and polite synonyms. Excuse the Trumpian expression, but spades aren’t tremendous cutlery. What he sees as corporate shenanigans and acts of meanness are laid out unlaundered in the public square for readers, but so are acts of kindness and brotherly charity warmly and generously recounted.
From chapter to chapter, Clegg’s character emerges of a focused, self-confident and fiercely stubborn young man with an unwavering sense of political independence. He demonstrates this in his on-air and editorial encounters at Radio Gold and Starr FM, both broadcast stations based in the capital, Accra, and which have politician owners. His values-based approach to broadcasting is evident when on multiple occasions he rejects, with ease, offers of under-the-table monetary rewards from newsmakers for work done in the regular line of duty, as well as from unnamed government officials. The title of this book notwithstanding, Clegg throws in his love of sports and regales us with his own prodigious exploits at hockey and the sprints, and how that passion helps to open the doors to his media journey.
Also, he makes no pretence of his pride in his academic achievements borne out of intelligence, hard work and self-belief which, consequently, put him top of his law faculty class and reward him with a long-held dream — a place at Harvard Law School.
As Shimon Peres put it in his foreword to Start-Up Nation – the Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, this book should be taken as an “interim report” on the evolving life and career of Clegg. It is but a small chapter in a much fuller story that is still writing itself.
— FOREWORD BY KWAKU SAKYI-ADDO
₵150.00My Media Journey
₵150.00 -
Swords & Crosses: The Story of Opoku Ware School
Our journey has been both long and short. Many are those that have departed this life, unable to share their stories. They were students like us, or teachers, or worked in other capacities within the school. All of these nurtured and formed us into the winners we are today. They and their service, their lives, and contributions should never be forgotten. For them all this book is a memorial.
Our prayer is that the thousands of fingers that turn these pages will be a testament to the many future years ahead of Opoku Ware School, years in which, we believe, it shall move from being one of the best into becoming the very best. The quick today and those departed, through this book still have a voice, speaking of what has been, and inspiring the progress for tomorrow.
We have been forged by the cross of Christ and a mighty sword of tradition.
This is our story.
Katakyie Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng (AF147) and his team have woven an intricate pattern of beauty, exemplified only by the beautiful patterns of the Asante Kente cloth. The beginnings of Opoku Ware School and its progress through the changing phases of Ghana are presented here in an easy-to-read style that will appeal to all students and lovers of history. Ably captured is the pride in identity that has bound together the men known as Akatakyie all this while; a resilient band of achievers. never resting, never floundering.
The story really had to be told.
₵70.00