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Achieving greatness: the stories of a two inspiring personalities
An anonymous author once said: “Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take towards reaching the goal.”
In this edition, we merge the stories of two personalities who have challenged themselves and continue to excel in their respective fields. They are Dr. Jamal Browne and Thabo Dithakgwe.
Dr. Jamal Browne
He is an International Development Expert, Writer, and Motivational Speaker who continues to excel in his chosen field while inspiring others to do same.
He once accepted a job where the salary was “so small” that it barely covered his basic monthly financial obligations. The job market was tough, and he had grown “incredibly impatient.”
But little did he know that those experiences would become a turning point in his life and career. In a recently LinkedIn post, Mr Browne recounted how “grateful and enthusiastic” he was about his first job but later started feeling “undervalued, forgotten, and unfulfilled.”
However, he quickly changed his perspective and started “thanking God” for “His provision.” Month later, he received an “unexpected job offer” from a reputable global organisation offering an “unbelievable compensation package.”
“Through that experience, I learnt to be: grateful for small blessings; patient as I wait; humble through my pain; and hopeful amidst disappointment,” he said.
He admitted that difficult moments were meant to “bring the best out of us, even as we avail ourselves of systematic, intentional learning and character development.”
In 2008, he received his Bachelors Degree (Hons) in Surveying and Land Information from The University of the West Indies in Trinidad & Tobago, and thereafter joined the public service in his native Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
In 2011, he returned to the University of the West Indies to pursue a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil), with a focus on Land Tenure Security and Disaster Risk Reduction.
In February 2014, he successfully upgraded to Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
In June 2014, he joined the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) as a Consultant Project Officer at the agency’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya; and in January 2015, was among the first cohort of scholars of the Canadian Government-funded EKACDM Scholarship.
In June 2015, he launched Land and Property Network – a Caribbean-based start-up within the global land and property sector that works with governments, international development and civil society organisations, and the private sector in addressing land administration and land governance issues.
He is an alumnus of President Barack Obama’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI), having served as a Professional Fellow in the initiative’s inaugural cohort (2016).
On November 17, 2016, Dr. Browne successfully defended his doctoral research at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr. Browne is an emotionally intelligent and inspirational Team Leader, People’s Manager, Mentor, and Cross-cultural Communicator. He has about 12 years industry experience in Content Marketing, Internal and External Communications, Public & Press Relations and Digital Media.
He has developed communications strategies for major public and private entities and also has experience also in Digital Storytelling & Film Production.
In addition to Social Media and Digital Media Management, he again has experience in Brand Management, Customer Relationship Management, Web Analytics and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Over the years, he has served as a keynote speaker at numerous graduation and prize-giving ceremonies, and has chaired international fora on Land & Property Rights. He has made presentations at numerous international and regional conferences.
Having shown great interest in the art of public speaking from a very early age, Dr, Browne has spent most of his life developing this skill.
He considers public speaking a platform for “sharing messages of hope with audiences that are more likely to respond to the spoken word.” He urges individuals not to despise the difficulties and pains of life’s journey.
“Embrace and appreciate the fact that you are making an effort, giving of your best everyday, and that the reward for your sacrifices and faith is assured,” he noted.
Thabo Dithakgwe
He is a 21-year-old South Africa’s youngest Livestock Farmer, Entrepreneur, Mentor and Public Speaker. He became a farmer at the age of 13 when his father gifted him a pregnant cow.
When the heifer gave birth, he nurtured the calf for 18 months and sold it to another farmer at a reasonable price and reinvested the money.
In 2015, at age 14, he received his Identification Livestock Certificate from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, enabling him to become a Commercial Farmer.
In 2020, while managing Constable Farm, he received a farm from the state, amounting to about 2,400 hectares, in the Morokweng Area, South Africa.
“I farm with cattle, sheep and goats. With the cattle, I do few other breed which I buy locally. And then with goats, I mainly specialise in boer goat. For sheep, I do crossbreed,” Thabo said.
“I am working towards diversifying into poultry and crop farming. I would also like to create about 50 permanent jobs for local unemployed residents and to bring investors on board which will help me help other striving young farmers,” he added.
By Ernest Nutsugah
-Additional files from landportal.org & Women Power Africa
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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