• Swimming Upstream: The Story of Southern Cross

    Kwame Donkoh Fordwor’s dream was realized due to the precision planning which was utilized to develop Southern Cross Mining Limited (SCML), as the company established itself as the first active gold mining operation to be brought to Ghana Since 1937. This came to pass by way of chance associations and the joint efforts of collaborators who possessed different backgrounds and motivations.
    Even with the assistance of numerous people along the way, the inception of Southern Cross was not easy. It required aggressive action and time to fend or larger corporations and fight government officials for the rights and freedoms they felt they deserved.
    Fordwor titles this book Swimming Upstream: The Story of Southern Cross because of the comparisons he draws between himself and the struggles of salmon attempting to reach their spawning grounds. Much like a salmon battling currents, fishermen, and other predators to reach its final destination, Fordwor had to struggle to make his own path and place in history, using keen instincts and good fortune to maintain the competitiveness and success of SCML.
    Swimming Upstream vividly details the rich history of Southern Cross and other gold mining venturers who strived to achieve historical recognition. It is an illuminating work-powerfully written and inspirational to all who are still seeking to make a lifetime dream come true.

  • 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.

  • Terry Venables: Born to Manage: The Autobiography

    After a playing career that spanned more than 15 years, and took in golden spells in the sixties with Chelsea and Spurs, it was almost inevitable that Terry Venables would move into management. Following early success with Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers, he was appointed to the plum job of managing Barcelona, one of the biggest clubs in Europe. The Spanish giants had been struggling, but he soon turned them around and brought them trophy success, which inevitably earned him the nickname ‘El Tel’.

    He returned to England to take charge of Spurs, where he helped save the club from financial troubles, and formed an ill-fated partnership with Alan Sugar. Again there was trophy success, as Venables worked with top England stars such as Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Chris Waddle, and when the England job fell vacant, he was the obvious choice for the role, leading the nation to the semi-finals of Euro 96 where they lost out on a place in the final after a penalty shoot-out.

    After leaving the England job, he has subsequently worked in numerous different roles. A charismatic and gregarious personality, Venables is widely viewed as one of football’s great tacticians and is the most successful English manager of recent years. His story is sure to fascinate and entertain all followers of the game, providing a unique insight based on more than 50 years at the top.

  • The ‘Kaya’ Diplomat: Diary Notes of a Ghanaian Diplomat (Hardcover)

    The ‘Kaya’ Diplomat: Diary Notes of a Ghanaian Diplomat is an account of event and episodes that I encountered in my forty-one years of service as a Foreign Service Officer.

    Inevitably, such a story coincides with the life and service of other high-ranking personalities who played a role or directed Foreign Policy of the Republic of Ghana, as our lives crossed. These interactions played a major role in developments in my career and fashioned the Diplomat that I became.

    This is my story.

  • The African Predicament: Collected Essays

    This collection of Kofi Awoonor’s writings comprises essays written over a period of three decades, and includes several previously unpublished pieces. According to the author himself: ‘[they] reflect a life-time of engagement in literature and politics, my two passions…’

    Kofi Awoonor addresses a diverse range of subjects from an African perspective: the slave trade, post-independence history, globalisation, and the fate of the African continent given the twin scourges of poverty and HIV/AIDS. Literary criticism considers the legacy of W.E.B DuBois, and in a contemporary context, Kofi Anyidoho’s poetry. Further essays are reflections composed during the author’s long sojourns in the US: on Negro, Afro-American, black, African-American and African and identities. Further essays cover historical and political topics, such as the overthrow of Nkrumah, and the UN in relation to Africa in the post-Cold War period.

  • The Anglican Story in Ghana: From Mission Beginnings to Province of Ghana

    The Anglican Church, by virtue of being the Christian communion most closely tied to the colonial history of the West Africa sub continent, could be said to be the oldest historic mission ecclesial body within the region. Emeritus Professor Canon John Samuel Pobee’s work The Anglican Story in Ghana is the only published full length monograph of Ghanaian Anglicanism since Church of England missionaries first set foot on the soils of the then Gold Coast in the middle of the 18th century. It is a historical account that features insights into the work and activities of the various dioceses of the Anglican Church including their contributions to education, social evangelism and education in particular. Each chapter is illustrated with pictures of key personnel dating back to the colonial era.

    “The yester-years have lessons for us today and for our new life as a province. So this publication is timely, galvanizing us to take lessons to make a success of the new venture. The study challenges us to search for a creative renewal that is thoughtful and mindful of its pedigree and also endeavours to be the Una Sancta in Ghana, Africa.” – Most Rev. DR. Justice Ofei Akrofi, Archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa & Bishop of Accra

    “It is a privilege to commend this study to all in the Anglican Church in Ghana and beyond, inviting you “to read, mark and inwardly digest” it and above all to take lessons from this story for the renewal of our Church and Province.” – Rt. Rev. Daniel Yinka Sarfo, Bishop of Kumasi Diocese & Presiding Bishop, Joint Anglican Diocesan Council

    “The Anglican Story in Ghana is not merely the history of a church chronicling ecclesial achievements, no. It is a well written mission history of the Anglican Church that enables us to appreciate the acts of the Holy Spirit in helping the collaborative efforts of western missionaries and their local helpers to bring God’s word to God’s people.” – Very Rev. Prof. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana

  • The Baobab: A Journal of the Council on Foreign Relations-Ghana (Vol 1, No 1 – January 2020)

    IN THIS ISSUE

    From the President of the Council

    Editorial

    The Need for a Diplomatic Think Tank

    Ambassador James Victor Gbeho

    Council on Foreign Relations Overdue

    HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana

    Kofi Annan Biography

    Memories of a Good Man from Africa

    Amb Patrick Hayford

    Getting to Know Kofi Annan

    Excerpts from A Conversation With Mary Chinery-Hesse

    (Interview by Lady Ann-Essumạn)

    Kofi Annan, Africa and the Responsibility to Protect

    Ramesh Thakur

    Ghana in United Nations Peace Operations, A Tool of its Foreign Policy

    Colonel Festus Boahen Aboagye (Retired)

    Peacekeeping Experiences, Creating National Bonds

    Major General HK Anyidoho (Retired)

    Rethinking a New Global Order

    V Antwi-Danso, PhD

    Partnerships for Peace in West Africa and the Sahel: Challenges and Opportunities

    Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas

    About the Contributors

    Editorial Policy and Guildlines

    History of CFR-Ghana

  • The Baobab: A Journal of the Council on Foreign Relations-Ghana (Vol 2, No 2 – July 2020)

    IN THIS ISSUE

    From the Managing Editor

    Editorial

    Members in the News

    Covid-19: 10 Policy Priorities for Africa’s Recovery, Growth and Transformation

    The Eco and West African Monetary History

    Nkechi S. Owoo

    Special Review Essays and Features on: Ghana, Liberia and Africa in Historical Transitions

    Renaming the Gold Coast Ghana

    Kabral Blay-Amihere

    Still Contested After All these Years

    David Owusu-Ansah

    Ghana: The Secession Movement and the Trans-Volta Togoland

    Boni Yao Gebe

    Charles Taylor’s Journey into Exile and Prison

    DK Osei

    Perspectives-Five Decades of Africa’s Development

    KY Amoako

    About the Contributors

    Editorial Policy and Guidelines

    History of the CFR-Ghana

  • The Black Pimpernel: Nelson Mandela on the Run

    In March 1961, after giving a brief speech at a conference, Nelson Mandela vanished.

    For the next eighteen months he was an outlaw, living under assumed identities and in various disguises (sometimes as a chauffeur, sometimes a gardener) as the South African police and secret services, helped by MI5 and the CIA, sought him in vain. His mission? To undergo military training and set up armed resistance to apartheid.

  • The Black Star: The Autobiography of C.K. Gyamfi (Hardcover)

    Over 60 years ago, Ghana’s national football team was rechristened Black Stars: a homage to the star in the middle of the Ghana national flag, a symbolic projection of black excellence.

    Charles Kumi Gyamfi, the team’s founding captain, would later coach it to three Africa Cup titles. In his autobiography, written in collaboration with Fiifi Anaman, Gyamfi chronicles his seminal career. If this book reads like a history of Ghana football, then it probably is: C.K. Gyamfi and Ghana football are consubstantial, as rarely has a country’s football story been dominated by one man.

    This is the story of the archetypal Black Star, whose pioneering achievements and expansive influence – on the pitch and from the dugout – changed a nation and impacted a continent.

  • The Boneshaker Politician

    The Boneshaker Politician is an autobiography of A.K. Opoku. He narrates how he gave his life to Christ in a dramatic way while travelling in a boneshaker, a wooden truck. He recounts how the Lord used him by way of evangelism and church building and his involvement in an uncompromising undercover politics in the church. Meanwhile he had nursed a childhood ambition of being an active politician.

    With all his “boneshaker” experience, he entered into politics and discovers that it was a different world altogether and bemoans the high moral and the financial entry requirements required of a Christian to engage in active politics. He raises question as to whether exhortations to get Christians involved in active politics is enough. He concludes with his family life and marvels at the art of God where four children of the same parentage and breed have four different characters and ambitions.

  • The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream

    *Available from 7 February 2023

    Patrick Asare was born and raised by illiterate parents in the remote Ghanaian village of Boadua. His family was so large and impoverished that not even the earnings from crushing hard work could buy enough food to fill their bellies. No one in the village aspired to be educated beyond middle school.

    Until Patrick.

    Numerous obstacles stood in the way of Patrick’s yearning for higher knowledge, including gnawing hunger, lack of sleep, and backbreaking daily chores. During school vacations, he toiled in a jungle farm teeming with poisonous snakes and insects.

    Dedicating every stolen moment to study, Patrick passed the common entrance exam with flying colors. Despite major setbacks, he kept his eye on the prize. He graduated from an elite secondary school and earned his engineering degree in the Soviet Union during the perestroika era. Finding his way to the United States, he taught Russian and math and eventually obtained a superb education from top American universities.

    Patrick’s travels and adventures taught him that, regardless of his hardscrabble childhood, he was a lucky man. He was raised by loving and supportive parents and lived in a society where race was not an issue. Teaching in inner-city high schools alerted him to the particular challenges faced by America’s urban Black youth.

    Patrick’s amazing story offers insights, hope, and inspiration to others who face astronomical odds.

  • The Consultant

    **Available from 23 June, 2022

    Consider this book the ultimate ‘How To’ compilation on a work area which has become extremely popular and lucrative in recent years — Consulting. The content of this book reflects the Author’s personal and professional consulting experience spanning over forty years, on work that has taken him to various African countries, the United Kingdom, the USA and Singapore.

    This book’s primary objective is to share the experience of a seasoned professional to promote Consulting as a vocation. It can truly be described as a manual and a set of guidelines for all Consultants. It particularly targets aspiring and young practicing individuals in the field.

    The Author, Dr. Joseph E. Bannerman, describes his work journey so far with his firm, Plan Consult, as exciting , full of dynamic encounters with a host of professionals from different backgrounds, government ministries, departments and organisations within both the public and private sector. His work has resulted in new and reviewed policies of various national sectors to the greater advantage of the beneficiaries of his expertise, of which he is most proud.

    The structure of this book adopts a ‘Project Planning Approach’ which the author calls ‘The Consulting Cycle’ and reinforces its credentials as one’s go-to ‘How To’ directional guide on Consulting. The arrangement of the chapters reflect the rich life experiences of the Author and follows his journey step by step to organically take the reader through advancing progressively in their consulting career.

    The Consultant

    250.00
  • The Fear of Failure: An Autobiography

    From Agomanya in the Eastern Region of Ghana, a 65 year old J. P. Adjimani narrates his life and how his fear of failure spurred him on instead of derailing him. In his autobiography, the biochemist unravels why he was never promoted to be a professor despite having a 28-year admirable career in Ghana’s premier university, University of Ghana.

  • The First Vice President: A Biography of JWS de Graft-Johnson (Hardcover)

    In the late 1970s, Joe de Graft-Johnson appeared on the national political scene as an Association of Recognized Professional Bodies executive, overlapping with his tenure as president of the Ghana Institution of Engineers. During this time, Joe actively demonstrated against the socioeconomic decline and lack of regard for professional guidance by the military regime. Joe subsequently won the People’s National Party’s nomination and became the Republic’s Vice President in 1979. Before this, he had transformed the Building and Road Research Institute into a prominent voice in using natural resources to address developmental needs, imbued as he was, with nation-building.

    Joe grew up within a family tradition of service to the country, instructed by lessons such as his grandfather’s contributions through the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society. The Mfantsipim School and the historical significance of Cape Coast had also left their mark on him.

    Later, in exile, still focused on national development, he fought for the transition to democracy.
    The First Vice President chronicles the extraordinary life of Joe, spent in dedication to his country.

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