NANA APENTEN Appiah Menka, the chairman of the Ashanti Regional Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has expressed utter shock at the demise of Dr. Kwame Safo-Adu, a founding member of the NPP.
He said the death of Dr. Safo-Adu was not only a great loss to the Danquah-Busia tradition, but the nation as a whole.
This, according to him, is because Dr. Safo-Adu’s contribution to the country’s health, agriculture and the industrial sectors would forever remain tall.
Nana Appiah Menka stressed that there is no denying the fact that Dr. Safo-Adu was one of the best agric. ministers the country has ever produced in her history.
He disclosed that it was the ingenuity of Dr. Safo-Adu as an agric. minister in 1970 which saw the country export rice for the first time.
Speaking in a telephone interview with DAILY GUIDE on Thursday morning, the renowned politician cum industrialist indicated that Dr. Safo-Adu was a first class medical doctor whose commitment to duty was enviable.
Nana Appiah Menka noted that he would forever miss Dr. Safo-Adu for his unyielding spirit and sense of passion for the wellbeing of mankind, irrespective of political affiliation.
He indicated that though Dr. Safo-Adu, till his unfortunate demise was not actively involved in the affairs of the NPP due to ill-health, the vacuum his death has created in the party will be difficult to fill.
According to him, Dr. Safo-Adu did not only remain loyal and dedicated to the cause of the Danquah-Busia tradition since the days of old, in spite of the tribulations he went through, he was also instrumental in the formation of the NPP in 1992.
He said Dr. Safo-Adu did not only contest the NPP Presidential race in 1992 and 1996 to become the party’s flagbearer, he nearly won the slot in 1979 to become flagbearer of the then Peoples Front Party (PFP).
Expressing further shock at Dr. Safo-Adu’s death, Appiah Menka said it was unfortunate that his long-time friend and colleague did not live to read a book he had authored.
He said the book, which will hit the market in no time, has a special focus on the contribution of Dr. Safo-Adu and other members to the Danquah-Busia tradition, and the nation as a whole.
Emphasizing his willingness to avail himself for the final funeral rites of the celebrated medical practitioner, Nana Appiah Menka entreated the NPP and the nation as a whole to honour Dr. Safo-Adu with a befitting funeral celebration. He also observed that Dr. Safo-Adu would forever be remembered for his worthy contributions to our dear country.
Dr. Safo-Adu, a presidential aspirant of the NPP in 1992 and 1996, passed away at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra on Friday 2 October, 2009 at the ripe age of 81.
The late physician and industrialist who had a checkered political and business history until his death, was kept out of public activities due to long years of ill-health.
In his active years, the late Dr. Safo-Adu was not only a political don; he was a successful medical doctor who successfully established a pharmaceutical company known as Industrial Chemical Laboratories (ICL).
During the days of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) junta, under headship of ex-President Rawlings, when political persecution was rife in the name of sabotage to the economy, the late Dr. Safo-Adu was arrested and thrown into the James Fort Prisons in Accra for three weeks.
He was accused of 13 charges of misapplication of public property and committing acts with intent to sabotage the country’s economy.
Source: Daily Guide
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