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A century of faith, service: The remarkable journey of Charles Baako Moses
At 100, Charles Baako Moses is more than a centenarian. He is a living witness to a century of Ghana’s history and a man whose life has been defined by faith, leadership, enterprise and service.
As he celebrates this extraordinary milestone, the General Overseer of The Holy Church of God looks back on a remarkable journey that has touched generations and contributed to the growth of an enduring religious institution.
His story is one of longevity, but more importantly, it is a story of impact.
Born in 1926 at Saltpond, Mr Moses was the son of Ghana’s first African Director of Prisons. At the age of seven, his grandmother took him to Accra, where he spent part of his childhood and played football at Mabona in James Town.
His life has also been intertwined with some of the defining moments in Ghana’s history. In 1939, as a young boy, he experienced the earthquake that shook parts of the country. Years later, on March 6, 1957, he was among schoolchildren who marched at the Old Parliament House to mark Ghana’s independence.
One of the defining chapters of Mr Moses’ life is his role in establishing The Holy Church of God at Parakuo Estates, Dome.
Together with his father, he helped build the fellowship from its formative years into an institution that would stand the test of time.
The fellowship attracted a number of prominent personalities in Ghana’s political history, including Ako-Adjei, Gbedemah, Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Victor Owusu.
Their association with the fellowship reflected the important role religious institutions played in Ghanaian society, particularly during the country’s formative years.
The Holy Church of God celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, marking seven decades of worship, service and community life.
For Mr Moses, the longevity of the church represents more than an institutional achievement. It is the fulfilment of a vision nurtured through years of commitment, sacrifice and perseverance.
Long before becoming General Overseer, Mr Moses was already combining faith, education and enterprise. He founded evening classes and taught, while also preaching from village to village with a lamp and a bell at nine o’clock every night.
He also helped establish a Baptist church and ventured into agriculture, planting cocoa, plantain and coconut. His entrepreneurial spirit later saw him build a juice business using oranges from his own farm.
As General Overseer, Mr Moses has provided steady leadership to the church, guiding both its spiritual and administrative affairs.
His leadership has been shaped by experience, discipline and a strong sense of responsibility. Over the years, he has nurtured generations of church members and leaders, helping to preserve the institution’s values while guiding it through changing times.
His wisdom and humility have earned him respect, while his perseverance has enabled him to remain committed to the institution he helped build.
Mr Moses’ contribution extends beyond religious leadership. He has also distinguished himself through entrepreneurial activities in transport, agribusiness and manufacturing.
His involvement in these sectors demonstrates his appreciation of enterprise and the importance of creating opportunities through productive economic activity.
His entrepreneurial vision has added another dimension to a life already marked by spiritual and institutional leadership.
Mr Moses has devoted his lifetime to faith, family and community service and development. He is also regarded as a mentor and role model to many, as well as a life coach, researcher, philanthropist and humanitarian.
Through his philanthropic activities, many people have experienced what his profile describes as new life, salvation and hope.
He is a family man and a father of seven children, adding family to the institutions and communities that have benefited from his lifetime of leadership and service.
Mr Moses’ contribution to leadership and institutional development has also received academic recognition.
He holds an Honorary Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Cambridge International College (CIC), an honour recognising his contributions to leadership and institutional development.
Turning 100 is a rare achievement, but Mr Moses’ centenary carries added historical significance because his life has unfolded alongside major chapters in Ghana’s development.
He has witnessed the country move from colonial rule to independence and through decades of political, social, economic and technological transformation.
His association with personalities such as Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ako-Adjei, Gbedemah and Victor Owusu places aspects of his personal journey within Ghana’s broader national history.
His life therefore offers younger generations an opportunity to appreciate how much society has changed and to learn from the values that enabled his generation to build institutions under very different circumstances.
Over the years, he has provided spiritual and administrative leadership to generations of believers, pursued business interests across several sectors and remained committed to family and community.
His centenary is not only a personal celebration but also a celebration of an institution and generations of people whose lives have been influenced by his example.
For the younger generation, Mr Moses’ centenary also comes with a message shaped by a lifetime of experience.
He advises the youth to listen to their parents, noting that their guidance comes from experience, love and a desire to see them succeed. He urges young people to remain disciplined, work hard, value education and surround themselves with positive influences.
“The choices you make today will shape the future you enjoy tomorrow,” he counsels.
Charles Baako Moses enters his second century with a legacy firmly established.
His centenary is also marked by another honour, as he is set to receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) and have his name included in the institution’s Hall of Fame, further recognising a lifetime of faith, leadership and service.
By Spectator Reporter
He once sold kenkey to pay his school fees, and now wears the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police. DCOP Kofi Sarpong, police officer and award winning gospel musician is charting a journey few could script.
In an interview with The Spectator chronicling his rise, the newly promoted DCOP took us on his journey through the ranks.
Early Life
“I was born in Berekum in the Bono Region, then Brong Ahafo, to Comfort Yeboah, affectionately called Maame Yaa, and the late Chief Inspector Kofi Sarpong,” he said.
His family story is one of resilience. His mother had two children before her husband died in an accident. She later married Kofi Sarpong’s father, a police officer, and had two more, himself and his junior brother. “So we are four, unfortunately one is deceased, just last year, so we are three now.”
School and struggle
He started at Berekum Methodist Primary under the old ‘Sito’ system. In Form Two, he moved to Obuasi to stay with a guardian for his Form Three education, then returned to Berekum for Form Four. He later attended Berekum Senior High School where he studied General Arts and shone as an athlete, a sprinter in the 100m, 200m and 4x400m relay.
After O-Levels, his batch was the last to write the exams, his dream was to become a teacher because of his love for children. But financial hardship forced a detour.
“I decided to help myself by going to buy maize and started preparing kenkey to sell at lorry parks and markets in Berekum,” he recalled.
According to him, the people from Berekum know this story. “I can make all types of kenkey, Fante Kenkey, Ga Komi and others. Don’t be surprised to see Kofi Sarpong Kenkey one day.” The proceeds paid his upkeep.
For this reason, he advised the youth “Don’t see life as a smooth journey but find something prudent to do to help yourself in difficult times.”
After grinding his education to a halt due to financial challenges, he now holds a Degree in Public Administration from GIMPA, a Master’s in International Relations and Diplomacy and Project Management, plus other higher certificates, with more in the offing.
The Police Call
When teaching did not materialise immediately, he moved to stay with his father at Osu, Accra. In 1994, he visited former IGP Nana Owusu-Nsia at Police Headquarters, who told about ongoing police enlistment.
In his head he declined, but outwardly he accepted to try reluctantly. Later, watching TV news and seeing long queues of young people aspiring to join the Police, he was inspired to reconsider.
He went to Berekum for his certificate. Accra enlistment had closed, so he joined the Kumasi exercise. He was selected, passed the exams and went to the Koforidua Police Training School, Galloway. After passing out, he was posted to the Logistics Unit at Police Headquarters.
At Headquarters, a senior officer encouraged young constables to further their education. He took a course in Purchasing and Supply via distance learning from a UK institution. 
Upon completion, the Police administration promoted him from Constable Class One to Chief Inspector, a leap that paved the way for him to enrol at the Police Academy. He graduated as ASP, and the climb to DCOP began.
“The officer corps starts from Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) from the cadet,” he explained. “When you graduate from the Police Academy, you are awarded ASP, and you move to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), that’s when I released album to start my music career professionally.”
From there, he rose to Superintendent of Police (SP), Chief Superintendent, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and now Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP). Next is Commissioner of Police (COP).
Music found him in Sudan
On peacekeeping duty in Sudan, officers from different nations came together to hold fellowship led by a Nigerian officer. In December that year, with top-ranked officers present, Kofi Sarpong led the service to the admiration of all.
On his return to Ghana, a Colonel, who was a Matron at 37 Military Hospital and a member of the 37 Methodist-Presbyterian Church invited him to their harvest service. He ministered, and as he stepped out of church, a man approached him with an offer to record him. He declined.
Days later, at the office, the man, Ernest Kwesi, who owned Media Excel Production sent an elderly man to pursue him. He still declined. This compelled Ernest Kwesi himself to visit him at the office. “He told me he had seen something in me.”
Just after Ernest Kwesi left,Kofi Sarpong wrote to then Director General/Welfare, Mohammed Alhassan, and Paul Tawiah Quaye the Inspector General of Police (IGP) at the time. “He opened the letter and said he had been waiting all this while because he had seen me perform at police officers’ events.”
He was summoned to the IGP’s office, a call which scared him, however, it was a good news; his request was approved. Against this backdrop, he informed Ernest Kwesi who quickly visited that evening with highlife musician Akwaboah Jnr., who taught him his first song, ‘Me ko nso hw3 mu’, and they went to the studio.
A song earlier recorded in reggae by Zapp Mallet was totally transformed by Nacee, so they released both versions on the album. Nacee, he says, hugely supported promotion, as did Mark Okraku-Mantey.
He also acknowledge Oware Jnr. who also wrote songs for him.
After his maiden album’s success, police leadership congratulated him. He says he is happy to have inspired other officers to write to the Service to pursue other interests.
An autobiography, he reveals, is in the offing.
Family and food
He is married to Mrs Salomey Sarpong with three children, two boys and a girl: Nana Nketiah, Maame Afia Yeboah Sarpong and Papa Kwabena Aseda Sarpong.
His hobbies are watching athletics and being with family. His favourite foods are fufu and konkonte with groundnut soup.
On music, he teased a collaboration with a top Nigerian artiste, promising fans “hot praises” soon.
He concluded by thanking Ghanaians for their support since his promotion, and thanked the Inspector General of Police for his guidance.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
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WHEN some of her pupils failed to show up at school, Mary Adotei did not always assume they were absent. Sometimes, she went looking for them.
In the communities where she taught, getting a child into the classroom could require more than preparing lessons. Mrs Adotei remembers occasions when she had to visit the homes of pupils, bathe them, prepare them and bring them to school herself.
“There were times I had to go to the homes of some of the children, bathe them and bring them to school,” she recalled.
It is a memory that captures much of her journey over the years as a teacher, a profession she entered without knowing it would become central to her identity.
Now, after years of working with children and communities, Mrs Adotei is taking lessons from the classroom into a new arena.
She is contesting the position of Women’s Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (AOB) Constituency in the Central Region, hoping to use her experience working with people to contribute to the welfare of women in the constituency.
But her story begins in the classroom.
After completing her basic and secondary education, Mrs Adotei spent 12 years working as a pupil teacher before she had the opportunity to receive professional training.
In 2006, she entered Fosu College of Education and completed her training in 2011 with a Diploma in Basic Education.
She returned to the classroom and has remained there since, teaching in different communities before moving to her current school, Catholic Boys Basic School in Breman Asikuma, in 2019.
The years have given her a front-row seat to the transformation education can bring.
Some of the children she once taught have grown into professionals, carrying the lessons they learnt in her classroom into hospitals, schools, offices and other workplaces.
Mrs Adotei said she had encountered former pupils who were now doctors, nurses, teachers and even a lawyer.
For a teacher, she said, such moments bring a special kind of satisfaction and reinforce the reason she remains passionate about education.
Her journey, however, has not been without difficult moments.
Teaching in local communities sometimes meant dealing with circumstances that went beyond academic work. Some pupils needed encouragement, personal attention and practical help before they could even settle down to learn.
Those experiences taught her that the challenges confronting people cannot always be solved from a distance. That understanding has followed her into her political activities.
Mrs Adotei has been involved in the NDC for years and previously served as a branch treasurer. She has also supported women in her branch, including assisting some to access medical treatment and providing help to families when the need arose.
She is now making her third attempt at becoming the constituency’s Women’s Organiser.
Her motivation is linked to what she has seen around her.
Mrs Adotei wants women in the constituency to have access to skills and opportunities that can help them become more economically independent.
She believes her years as a teacher have prepared her for the work, too, because the profession has taught her to listen, communicate, understand different circumstances and work patiently with people.
For her, the transition from teacher to political organiser is therefore not a complete departure from the path she has followed.
The classroom taught her to work with individuals. Politics, she hopes, will give her the opportunity to work with a wider group of women.
If elected, Mrs Adotei intends to continue teaching while taking up her political responsibilities. She said she would organise her time to attend meetings and constituency activities without abandoning her duties to her pupils.
Away from school and politics, she is a wife and mother of two sons who are pursuing their degrees at university.
Her message to young girls is shaped by everything she has seen education do for the children she has taught.
For Mrs Adotei, education remains one of the strongest tools available to young people, especially girls seeking to build better futures.
She wants them to stay in school, pursue further education and acquire skills that will prepare them for the future.
“Nowadays, you cannot go forward without education,” she said.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
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