CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: THE HENKING-CHRISTIAN-PADI MODEL

This is how an observer (also a citizen of the land) summarised the long chain of activities that led to the declaration of “Self-government” in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality (Manya Krobo Traditional Area) to compelled government and, for that matter, the Ministry of Local Government/Electoral Commission to conduct the local level elections in the municipality after three years without assembly members.

At least, one person has acknowledged my/our role (as Kloma Gbi) in rescuing the “poor” market women on the Agormanya market from the hands of the “greedy” and “heartless” leaders (if you like) who took advantage of the absence of Assembly Members and the virtual breakdown of the structures at the assembly to do all kinds of things including feeding from the toils of the “poor” market women/traders. Below is how how Dr. Enoch Teye Kwadjo puts it; I find it interesting and inspiring. 

And the people of Manya Krobo declared SELF GOVERNMENT, the second to do so after Dr. Kwame Nkrumah did for Ghana

Dr. Enoch Teye Kwadjo

He writes: Today (December 3, 2013) the chiefs and people of the months-old Democratic Republic of Lower Manya Krobo (DRLMK) go to the polls to elect their representatives at the municipal assembly, so as to “re-join” Ghana. 

The road to today’s election was synonymous with what Nelson Mandela would call “long walk to freedom”. And if there is any group or individual that has fallen several times along the way then it should be (and rightly so) the “three-member” Kloma Gbi group.

While variants of civil disobedience or positive defiance may exist, the Henking-Christian-Padi model appears to stand out among the other known forms of defiance. Selling the idea to market women to avoid payment of tolls and allied levies in protest against non-availability of assembly representatives was certainly not an easy process. Yet they succeeded in getting the market women and some prominent chiefs to buy into this idea. 

Only a few people may be aware of the blackmail the three-member group suffered: the bloody lies; the failed attempt to round them up into police cells; the rejection and betrayal at the hands of those who should know better; etc.

Today, LMKMA votes through their blood and toil. And to learn that none of the Kloma Gbi members is standing to be elected as representatives should make their detractors re-think the obstacles they erected in their paths. Though majority of young people are driven by extrinsic motivation for what they do, there are still a few intrinsically-motivated youths around. 

For years to come the Henking-Christian-Padi form of civil disobedience will remain a potent tool for other districts in Ghana to use. Indeed, while people can stop a person whose time has come, no one can stop an idea whose time has come. The Henking-Christian-Padi form of civil disobedience was an idea whose time had come.

I salute you guys on the occasion of today’s municipal level elections at the LMKMA.

The story of the boycott/self government: http://graphic.com.gh/news/politics/1295-boycott-lower-manya-krobo-declares-self-government.html

http://graphic.com.gh/news/politics/5306-assembly-elections-in-lower-manya-krobo-hang-in-balance.html

From:  Dr. Enoch Teye-Kwadjo

Published on his facebook wall on December 3, 2013

ON A MOTOR ON THE MOTORWAY,

There I was at the Tetteh-Quarshie end of the motorway

Two weeks ago, I dangerously rode behind a MOTOR BIKE (Okada) on the MOTOR WAY, risking my life – but pursuing my passion- in order to positively IMPACT the lives of the less fortunate.

I was to attend the orientation course for the Vodafone World of Difference CSR programme which I volunteered to undertake to help arrest the emerging trend of child labour on the Agormanya Market.

Coming from an interior part of Tema, through the noisy, dusty and near lawless town of Ashiaman to the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra where the event was being held, I had to pick taxi 3 times because there was no DIRECT FLIGHT from my end that day to Ashiaman, neither were the taxi drivers willing to join the snail-paced traffic from my place to Ash Town.

When finally I got to Ashiaman after soiling my otherwise neatly ironed white shirt and pink stripped tie, worn over an oversized blue-black trouser, the queues by the Accra-bound troskies were like the queues that characterized late Prez Mills’ funeral while he was staging his last public appearance in the Banquet Hall, Accra.

The only way out was to pick dropping which I did without hesitation because I didn’t want to miss this BIG opportunity and guess what, it took the taxi 35 minutes to emerge from inside the Ahiaman station onto the main road because in Ashiaman drivers choose to park anywhere including the entrance to the station, go and chop, have siesta and come back.

When at long last we emerged on the road, this 1844 type of rickety taxi (the only one willing to convey me to Accra), would not move again, the engine went off and would not respond to stimuli (mu si pai -push).

It was already 10:30am and the program was to start at 9:00am at the Golden Tulip Hotel (at 37). There were only two options 1. I either return and miss the opportunity to implement my Warm Embrace project meant to help those children off the market (child labourers) or 2. Risk my life riding behind this okada guy (whose expertise in motor riding I didn’t even know) on the blood-thirsty monster called the MOTOR WAY.

Cars sped pass us on the motor bike like airplane; the only thing I could tell God was “I commit my poor soul into your hands” because I didn’t know I was going to survive the dangers on that monstrous motor way.

I didn’t wait to fully get off the bike at the Tetteh-Quashie interchange to “CUT” a cross on my chest and forehead (like a typical Catholic) for the miracle of surviving the ordeal on the motorway.

I rolled up my, now, dirty white long sleeved shirt, charted another taxi and landed at the hotel late into the programe but thank God I didn’t miss the opportunity.

Some of the children on the market who have known no smile, will soon start smiling as I kick start my community service project under the name “THE WARM EMBRACE”, to as the name suggests give a warm embrace to those children who seemed to have been left to their fate.

Published on my facebook wall on October 30, 2012

At the orientation at the Golden Tulip Hotel

Time to take some shots for official use

Group picture of the participants selected from across the country

A BATTLE WITH FATE AND DESTINY, the story of a physically challenged teacher

A picture Mr. Patamia's worn-out prosthetic/artificial leg

Mr Patamia in his office

If there is anybody worth celebrating for his bold and masculine attitude to life, it is Mr. Godsway Kosi Patamia, the 44 year old physically challenged teacher and assistant headmaster of the Agormanya Methodist JHS in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region.

He is an embodiment of many virtues including optimism, selflessness and determination but the most pronounced of these attributes is his uncommon faith in God and the resilience with which he braved through a life of misery and what many initially considered a hopeless situation to become a first degree-holding teacher who would not mind teaching his students on an empty stomach and living on charity for nearly three years without salary which he worked for and so much deserve. 

Administrative bottleneck, improper coordination between his employer- the GES- and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department coupled with the wicked act of man’s insensitivity towards his fellow man painfully turned him into a beggar and yet he kept hope alive and his head above water even on a rather breezy sea of life.

What later turned a life full of challenges started when little Patamia- then aged 15 and a form 2 pupil of the Keta AME Zion school- was ran into by a saloon car on his way to school in the year 1985.

He was rushed to the Keta Government hospital after the accident but was transferred to the 37 Military Hospitals where he spent days without proper medical care because he could not be officially admitted due to the lack of hospital beds.

When after nearly four days it became obvious he wasn’t going to be admitted, he was referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital by which time his condition had worsened and almost beyond recovery.

The right leg ended up amputated; the left survived but remains mutilated and painful till date. When eventually he was discharged from the Korle Bu teaching hospital after two years on admission, he had to stay at the Adoagyire Orthopedic Center for an additional year during which he learnt to walk on an artificial (prosthetic) leg.

The badly mutilated leg which "survived" the accident

On his return after 3 years from the center, having been out of school all this while, nobody except his mother bought into his decision and desire to go back to school because many thought it worthless due to his condition.

Determined to prove that his misfortune was not the end of life, and with the support of his mother (Ms Peggy Dzidzoamenu), Michael Godsway found his way back into the classroom and progressed steadily through the Keta Business College (1989-1994) and later the Accra Teacher Training College from where he graduated a professional teacher in the year 2002.

As if to further prove his point, he would still not allow the myriad of challenges and his financial difficulties to suppress his inner desire to acquire higher education. After three years of teaching, he applied for study leave to enable him upgrade but he was refused study leave.

That would still not be a stumbling block for the determined young man. Having already gained admission into the University of Cape Coast, he proceeded to read English and Music for 4 years in the most challenging circumstances one could ever imagine, among which were his physical disability coupled with financial difficulties.

He had no room on campus yet financial difficulty would not permit him to lodge in any of the student hostels, at least not in his early years on campus. The student lounge and porters’ lodge virtually turned his place of residence. He slept on benches/any available slab and ate anything that could keep body and soul together until he eventually graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Music.

Upon completion, he came back and was re-engaged into the Ghana Education Service (GES) in 2009 and issued with an appointment letter as an English teacher and the assistant headmaster of the Agormanya Methodist JHS (where he has since been teaching) in the Eastern Region at the rank of a Principal Superintendent.

He thought that was going to be the end of his long chain of suffering but that was not to be. His situation was compounded when for 3 years; he was not paid a pesewa of his hard-earned salary due to the lack of proper coordination between his employer, G.E.S and the Controller and Accountant General whose mandate it was to process his documents to facilitate his payment.

As a result, a man of his status (assistant headmaster) had to virtually beg to survive compelling him, his four children and (then) expectant wife to live on charity and on the generosity of his colleague teachers and church members. (full story is available via this link http://www.modernghana.com/news/406323/1/physically-challenged-teacher-turns-a-beggar-due-t.html).

At a point, it only took the benevolence of his landlord to spare him eviction from his room after the expiration of his first rent which was paid by the Reverend Minister of the Agormanya Methodist Church where he fellowships.

Not even this treatment from his employers could take him of out the classroom. He taught with the highest form of sacrifice and dedication virtually on an empty stomach, making sure his students passed well and gained admission into Senior High School.

Mr. Patamia during instructional hours

JUSTIFICATION FOR THE REWARD

1. He must be showcased and rewarded to serve as a model and inspiration for the many physically challenged persons on the street who have virtually resigned to fate in the face of their conditions

2. He must be rewarded for his selfless service to the pupils of the Agormanya Methodist JHS and the community. Even when he was not being paid (for 3 years) during which time he, his 4 children and expectant wife were surviving on the benevolence of his colleague teachers, he still didn’t miss classes because of his love for the pupils and the profession

3. The reward and recognition will give him a more compelling reason to continue to live and press on in life even in his condition.

NB: This is an Airtel Touching Lives entry/story. It was submitted for season 3, but unfortunately, it did find favour with the selection team. Better luck next time, my good friend. 

The writer, Henking Adjase-Kodjo (right) with his journalist friend, Umaru Sanda Amadu of Citi FM in a pose with Mr. Patamia at his residence, Agromanya