The Children of House No. D13 South Suntresu Kumasi: An Ahwoi & Adu-Gyamfi Siblings’ Collective Biography

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To describe The Children of House No. D13, South Suntresu, Kumasi, as an intriguing project is an understatement. A collective biography of eight siblings was always going to be a daunting challenge, even if each person told their own story and got it together in one volume. To do it in a coordinated combination of first and third person “voices” would appear to be a bit implausible. To actually achieve the purpose and turn it from a project into an enthralling reading experience deserves all the plaudits this book is likely to gather.

This book is a collection of life stories of the eight children of Madam Maye Charlotte Hudson, also known as Esi Tutuwa but known to some people as Esi Nkwagye and to the people of South Suntresu, Kumasi as Mrs. Ahwoi. The ‘Ahwois” principally is the collective name of three brothers – Ato, Kwesi and Kwamena – who have played prominent roles in Ghana’s recent history, but the siblings also include five girls, Ama, Adoma, Efua, Naana and Sister Aggie, who also played their part in this thrilling story in their own unique ways.

For such a collective recall of personal histories to work, a principal requirement is a willingness of all the parties involved to treat the project seriously; of equal importance is the need to treat everyone’s personal history as important, which is what this book has succeeded in doing. It would be right to describe it as an exercise in literary democracy!

It is not every book project that produces a good book, but this book has done so because at the heart of the project is a good story. And at the heart of that good story is human progress against the odds capsuled in the life of these eight individuals.

These are the dramatis personae in order of appearance – from the womb – Ato Ahwoi, Kwesi Ahwoi, Mrs. Ama Twum, Kwamena Ahwoi, Mrs. Ama Adoma Bartels-Kodwo, Mrs. Efua Bram-Larbi, Theodora Naana Adu Gyamfi and Mrs. Agnes Appiagyei-Dankah. Theodora Naana Adu-Gyamfi passed away at the age of 28 and so her role ends early except in passing references. However, it is worth recalling that before she died, and in an act that exemplifies the major theme of this book, Naana secretely transferred all the money in her own bank account into that of her six year old niece, Abena Tutuwa Ahwoi, the daughter of her brother, Kwamena.

The structure of the narrative, which makes it possible to flow, is simply to follow the fortunes of these siblings sequentially in turn through the main phases of their development. The person whose presence permeates the story is the matriarch – Mrs. Ahwoi, nee Maye Charlotte Hudson.

The book achieves the purpose of showing the “remarkable togetherness and the mutual support system that enabled the children of House No. D13, South Suntresu, Kumasi, to overcome the many hurdles along their individual paths in life as being due to their mother, Madam Maye Charlotte Hudson (Mrs. Ahwoi). Indeed, the matriarch herself is effectively the ninth subject of the biography of the eight children” as Honourable Kwame Preprah states in the Foreword.

Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng

Consultant in Communication, Media and Culture

Former Chairman, National Media Commission (NMC)

Former President, Ghana Association of Writers (GAW)

Additional information

Weight 1 kg
Year Published

2022

ISBN

978-9988917838

Format

Paperback

Author Picture

Kwamena Ahwoi

Professor Kwamena Ahwoi is an Oxford University Rhodes Scholar and a University of Ghana Pioneer Tobacco Company (PTC) Scholar. He holds a Bachelors of Civil Law (BCL) and a Bachelor of Law (LL.B) degree respectively from the two Universities.

Professor Ahwoi was for twelve years Ghana's Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) (1988-2000) and for one year in 1997 was simultaneously Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs. He lectured full-time at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana from 1978 to 1993 and at the Schools of Public Service and Governance and of Law at the Ghana Institute of Management and Administration (GIMPA) from 2005 to 2016.

In 2000, Mr Ahwoi was moved form the Local Government Ministry to establish the Ministry o Planning, Regional Cooperation and Integration (MPRECI), with responsibility for the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Professor Ahwoi has variously been a member of the Board of Directors of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Ghana Limited and subsequently its Chairman; Chairman of the Governing Council of the KAAF University, a private engineering-focused University; member of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC); and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Ghana.

He was a member of the 2016 Presidential Committee on Emoluments appointed by President John Dramani Mahama under Article 71 of the Constitution to make recommendations for the determination of the emoluments of the leading members of the Executive, Legislature and Judicial Arms of government as well as those of the independent institutions of the Constitution.

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The Children of House No. D13 South Suntresu Kumasi: An Ahwoi & Adu-Gyamfi Siblings' Collective Biography

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