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Addiction counsellor advises youth… Stay away from alcohol, it can ruin your life
Don Richie looked older at 45 years and battling alcoholism (left) than at 50 and overcoming it
When Richard Nii Adjei Otchwemah decided to celebrate his completion of secondary school with alcoholic drinks, little did he know it was going to be the beginning of a long battle with alcoholism for almost 30 years of his life.
‘The Don’ or ‘Don Richie,’ as he was called, because he was always the boss and leader of most activities among his friends, recalled that after their final exam, he and some of his friends decided to do something adventurous to celebrate completion of that level of education.
“Right at the gate of the school, someone was selling palm wine and so we had a good taste of it,” Mr Otchwemah, who is now an Addiction Counsellor disclosed this in an interview with The Spectator on the sidelines of an occasion to celebrate persons who had recovered from substance abuse at the House of St. Francis Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre in Ashaiman.
He said while waiting for his results, he was taken out regularly by a friend to have a bottle or two of beer.
“Drinking alcohol was not a habit until after Sixth Form when I was posted to a remote village to do my National Service. It was without electricity and water. The food was also bad so the only thing providing us with joy was hard liquor (akpeteshie), which was providing the ‘appetite’ to enjoy the meal” he narrated.
“But at home, I could eat without the alcohol as appetite because the food was good.”
He said after his graduation from University, he got married and was still drinking, recalling how he took his wife to drink.
That continued after marriage as his crave for alcohol became persistent while his wife became concerned and started expressing her displeasure about it.
Mr Otchwemah stated that in the process, he lost his influence on his family and community which previously considered him as a role model and very responsible person.
As if that was not enough, alcoholism affected him greatly when pursuing a Master’s programme. He struggled to study and procrastinated on things to do.
Consequently, he felt his life was moving backwards and begin to lose his friends, family and even his job because he sometimes missed some days at work due to drinking.
The Addiction Counsellor said he spent almost all his time at drinking bars and preferred to be with like-minded people in order not to be discriminated upon.
In the process, he sometimes found himself on the wrong side of the law due to excessive drinking and also sustained various degrees of injuries from falls or fights caused by his drinking habit.
The turning point for him was when some old friends who had shown him so much love and respect over the years spoke to him passionately about the developments in his life and the need for him to get help.
He noted that there was an earlier attempt by some family members to get him to seek help from a rehabilitation centre but he returned home after a month and started drinking again.
According to him, that attempt did not work because he had gone there out of frustration due to the pressure from his friends and a desire to make them happy.
The 50-year old narrated that the approach by his friends did not sound manipulative and so in August 2019, he decided to seek professional help from the House of St. Francis.
“And to the glory of God, I am back to my old self. The last month of August was exactly five since I tasted alcohol. I communicate well and I am polite with people. I say sorry when I offend them and also communicate well if I have concerns about issues without resorting to alcohol. I have not taken alcohol for five years and the good news is that I am helping others to do same,” he said.
He says it was important for society to treat persons battling addiction of any form with love and respect.
“Such people must be treated with respect. If possible, such people should be referred to persons who they respect and have a lot of regard for, because the process is all about conviction.”
He says after recovery, those who helped them should not use the roles they played as an opportunity to manipulate, blackmail or disrespect them otherwise they might relapse out of frustration.
The Addiction Counsellor appealed to the Ministry for Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to vigorously start a campaign to get students in the Junior and Senior High Schools to be educated on the dangers of alcohol.
He noted that the focus had over the years been on drugs and weed to the neglect of alcohol which is also destructive to its users.
For the youth, the best advice he could offer them was to abstain from alcohol because it has the potential to destroy them.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Ashaiman
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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