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Nana Ansah Kwao IV, making outstanding change in his jurisdiction
Poised for making development and transformation as a double edged-sword in his capacity as a chief, his pledge to ensuring that the narrative of inequality was changed in order to ensure gender parity in rural settings is achieved through sound and innovative policies in his kingdom and the country at large.
Despite a challenging impediment on him as a dyslexic, a condition that made it uneasy to exhibit his writing prowess, Nana Ansah Kwao IV, Chief of Akwamu Adumasa has surmounted all hurdles to become a beacon of hope to his society.
His unquenchable quest to bring freedom, sanity and decorum among his subjects was worth the cause as a good leader which made his rule more successful and an accomplished one.
Securing an indelible mark on his throne, Nana Ansah Kwao IV is of the assertion that “we must be planting trees today for tomorrow’s children to harvest and enjoy its fruits”.
According to him, the above statement is to ensure that the current generation lives a life that would impact and make life more comfortable for the future generation.
The Spectator in an interview with Nana Ansah Kwao IV delved into his noble life and his persevering nature to make the society a safer haven for all.
Lineage
Hailing from a fortunate royal family called the Sintim Misa, Nana Ansah Kwao IV comes from a well educated family where his late grandfather, Rev. G.K. Sintim Misa was the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for 12 good years.
He was born to Kwame Danso Misa, a royal from Abomusu, the Akyempim Hene of Kyebi in the days of Kuntumkunnumkum and Nana Esi Danso Misa who hails from Adumasa in the Eastern Region.
According to him, his line of inheritance is matrilineal so he is a native of Adumasa and a royal in the family.
Education
With a staunch educational family background, Nana Ansah Kwao IV was enrolled in various schools but struggled through his early stages due to his dyslexic condition.
“I changed schools because of my dyslexic nature, some of the schools I attended include Jack N Jill, St Martin de Porres, North Ridge School, Mpraeso Secondary School, Accra Academy among others,” he recounted.
Nana Ansah Kwao IV enrolled at the Methodist University College, Dansoman-Accra and bagged a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing.
Professional Achievements
Determined to be a change agent in his community, Nana Ansah Kwao IV had been practicing as a marketer both locally and internationally.
According to the astute chief, he gathered experiences from managing his father’s hotel and pharmacies after his O’ Level, where he learned customer satisfaction as a tool in marketing.
He later travelled to the United Kingdom (UK) where he worked with top notch shoe industries and popular automobile giants including Peugeot, Mercedes Benz and Audi by exhibiting sterling performances in the area of marketing.
“I really enjoyed life while working in the UK because it was an exposure to learning great things in the field of marketing,” he said.
Union of the stars
“In the year 2006, I started my radio show in the UK where the show ranked number two on the most listened to shows in the UK. When I came to Ghana and joined Rainbow radio, I met Oheneyere Gifty Anti who came there for a sponsorship and I realised she looked prettier than on TV. We linked up and dated in secret for three years until we tied the knot and we are blessed with a child,” he narrated.
Succession to the throne
His succession to the throne was a flexible and a peaceful one which made his transformation as a chief worth emulating.
Nana Ansah Kwao IV told The Spectator, the throne he occupied at Adumasa was vacant for 10 years, and the person to be enstooled was his mother’s bigger brother but he was too old to sit on the throne.
In an agreement, they wanted me to be the chief to make impact in the town through development and transformation.
“The first time I went to Adumasa was in October 2010, and by January 24, 2011, I was installed as the Chief of Adumasa,” he recalled.
According to the change agent, there were times natives of Adumasa did not want to associate themselves with Adumasa because it had no phase of development but now they are all proud to mention that they are natives of Adumasa everywhere they found themselves.
Successes/Transformations
His passion for girl-child empowerment made him put measures in place to ensure that, girls in the community were protected from all forms of abuses and were given equal opportunities.
He wanted at least every 5-year-old child in Adumasa to be able to read, so this made his wife Oheneyere Dr Gifty Anti open a well-stocked library in Adumasa to improve literacy rate in the town.
Nana Ansah Kwao IV paid Jolly Phoenix, a literacy training network to champion the cause of how to read and write among the children in Adumasa.
According to the noble chief, literacy rate in Adumasa has increased from 36 to 89 per cent, where majority of the students could read.
“Though the school is “syto”- a government school, I run it like a proprietor of a private school, where every teacher and head of departments report to me with their lesson notes,” he stressed.
Having education at heart and championing it to perfection to the benefit of all, the chief organises debates among the school children in the palace to improve the public speaking skills of the pupils.
As an environmentalist, he ensured that trees and wildlife in Adumasa were protected.
He also organises programmes for the youth and pupils in the town to remain focused on their aspirations in order for them to contribute their quota to society in future and under the auspices of resourced persons.
Linguistics
Nana Ansah Kwao IV, the father of four children, speaks English, Twi, and Ga and has in-depth knowledge in the traditions of Ghanaian linguistics.
Leisure/Delicacy
Nana Kwao Ansah IV loves to ride motorbikes to experience the fresh wind and is also fan of tennis ball.
He enjoys eating any meal with ripe plantain either fried, boiled or grilled.
Admonishment
He advised the general public to ensure that, whatever decision or action they embarked upon should be futuristic for the unborn generation to benefit from.
“Whatever decisions you take today should not only affect generations yet unborn, it must also be beneficial to those alive and must be worthy, and accountable to God and your ancestors,” he cautioned.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
Photos from the High-Level Event on Reparatory Justice for the trafficking of enslaved Africans and the racialised chattel enslavement of African people, convened at the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
Delivering a powerful address, President John Dramani Mahama underscored the moral urgency of confronting historical injustices and advancing a global commitment to reparatory justice.
“The entire transatlantic slave trade was designed to deny African people their humanity,” the President stated.
Highlighting the significance of ongoing international efforts, he added:“This resolution allows us, as a global community, to collectively bear witness to the plight of the 18 million men, women, and children whose homes, communities, names, families, hopes, dreams, futures, and lives were stolen from them over the course of four centuries.”
In reaffirming the enduring truth of justice, President Mahama noted:
“Just because everybody is doing something doesn’t make it right. Slavery is wrong now, and it was wrong then. For as long as Africans have been trafficked and enslaved, there have been abolitionists who have spoken up against it.”
He further called for a deeper reflection on identity and dignity:
“We must also remember to reclaim our own humanity… when we absorb too much of the language of violence and erasure, our minds become enslaved.”
A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Beatrice Siaw, has expressed mixed views about Ghana’s current leadership, saying she admires President John Dramani Mahama but is not fully satisfied with how the country is being governed.
Speaking in an interview on Metro TV on Tuesday, she said although she belongs to the NPP, she finds it difficult to criticise the President personally.
“I admire President Mahama, so it’s hard to speak against him. But I do love my party. I am impressed with the President, not necessarily impressed with how things are going” she said.
She acknowledged that the NDC has made efforts in managing the economy and improving some key indicators. She noted that the party appears determined to prove critics wrong after previously being voted out of office.
“They are trying to do a lot of things that Ghanaians thought they couldn’t do when they were in power,” she said.
However, she was quick to add that these efforts may not necessarily translate into electoral success in the next election cycle.
When asked whether the NDC’s performance could pose a strong challenge in 2028, she said she does not believe so, although she admitted there have been some improvements in certain areas.
“In some aspects, yes,” she said when asked if she had been impressed by the government’s performance.
By: Jacob Aggrey
