Mr. Chairman, My Lord the Methodist Bishop of Cape Coast, Honourable Special Guest of Honour, Guest of Honour, Headmaster and Staff of Mfantsipim School, Mfantsipim Old Boys, Members of Gey Hey ’84, Students, Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Mfantsipim Old Boys’ Association, Class of 1984, let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this august gathering. Today is a particular honour for us. 25 years ago, specifically on 12th October 1979, a significantly traumatic year in the history of this nation, 140 bright-eyed boys, many of us barely teenagers, were unleashed us upon this Great School by our parents. All we had, frankly, were hopes and fears. Many of us did not even know what we were here for or what we were about. However, within a period of seven years (for those who stayed the full course), five years (for those who left after Form Five) and two years (for the great guys who joined us in Sixth Form), Mfantsipim transformed an unlikely bunch of boys into responsible, credible men burning with dreams and visions, and a strong sense of loyalty and belonging, playing their part and making an impact in Ghana and all over the world.

Our parents sent us to this magical place, which stood and still stands as a beacon of opportunity to so many. Most of our parents were not rich. But they imagined us going to the best school in the land, because in Mfantsipim you don’t have to be rich to achieve your potential. We, the Class of ‘84 stand here today, grateful for the diversity of our backgrounds and aware that our parents’ dreams live on in us and in our children. We stand here knowing that our story is part of the larger Mfantsipim story, that we owe a debt to those who lit the torch and blazed the path, the Wesleyan Missionaries, the Faithful Eight, all of those who came before us, and that, in no other School on earth is our story even possible. Today, we gather to affirm the greatness of our School and to give back to Kwabotwe some of what Kwabotwe gave to us, not because of the depths of our pockets, the lengths of our cheque books, the width of our credit cards, the size of our respective bank accounts or even the undeniable beauty of this refurbished building. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in the Century-old motto and adage of this great school, Dwen Hwe Kan, Think and Look Ahead. That is the true genius of Kwabotwe: the innate ability to see farther than most people, a faith in simple dreams and the insistence on small miracles.

By the traditions of this great institution, our Old Boys’ class was inaugurated at the British Council Hall in 1994. That was a call to reaffirm our values and commitments, to hold them against hard realities and see how we would measure up, to the legacy of our forbearers, and the promise of future generations. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, after ten years the dream has become a reality as a result of planning, preparation, organising, arguments (both face-to-face and on the internet), anxieties, apprehensions, travels, fund-raising drives and countless meetings in Accra, Takoradi, London, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia, members driving for miles to attend meetings and emptying their bank accounts, and more importantly the grace, favour and mercies of Almighty God. We can say to you today, in the words of the Apostle Saint Paul: we have run the race, we have fought the fight. It has been a long and sometimes tortuous gestation period. But this event, the Commissioning of the MOBA ’84 Infirmary, is but the crowning moment of a long, hard pursuit and struggle.

In deciding to embark on this project, we had to make choices. Kwabotwe has many needs. We considered numerous options. But the vision began to crystallise last year, when we were privileged to attend the Speech Day and the Commissioning of the MOBA ’83 Pato. Sitting at the Pato, still mulling and pondering over a project, someone uttered the now-magical word “functionality”: a big word but synonymous with useful, practical, purposeful, serviceable. But the vision, as the Good Book says, was for an appointed time. Sitting right opposite us was the answer to our search and questions. A small group of us felt inspired to visit the Sick Bay. We walked across the road. What we saw broke our hearts. Suffice it to say that that day, in the heat of the afternoon sun, this vision was conceived, the picture imagined, the concept conjured up, the dream visualized and the project envisaged.

In embarking on this project we considered that the health and physical condition of the students should be a principal concern to us all. It is often said, “a sound mind dwells in a sound body.” Our stay on this campus was eventful and sometimes sad. We had to prepare for and write the Ordinary Level exams twice at the height of the drought, famine and hunger that engulfed this nation in the early 1980’s. We were sometimes fed with half balls of kenkey made from yellow corn, and the legendary khaki soup. Copra and garri became staple diet in-between meals. I vividly remember a cot-mate eating yellow kenkey with salt one night and describing it with relish as “corn bread and salt spread.” Mosquitoes fed fat on us, and malaria was all but a constant companion. We sadly recall the passing of two of our colleagues, Aryeh and Egyir around this time. Permit me to take this time to mention and remember three more of our mates, Doni-Kwame, Mamattah and Ocran, who have also departed this life.
When we recount our sometimes difficult experiences, providing this physical structure to the hundreds of boys whose soles tread these hallowed hills daily is the least that we can do to support Mfantsipim, in the hope that those days might never come back to haunt this great School. But more importantly, through this work we have come to appreciate more fully the ideals of community, faith, and sacrifice, because they have defined our lives and invoked the subliminal aspects of our training on these great hills. As a class, we made a tough, expensive choice when easier ones were available. But Mfantsipim’s values and the record of what we have achieved affirm what is best in us – a belief that we are connected as one people. We acknowledge that we are what we are today because Mfantsipim bred in us a strong sense of identity and belonging, and nurtured bonds that go beyond merely sitting in the same class. We owe a duty to this great School and the current generation of students. I like to say that you do not go through Mfantsipim. Mfantsipim goes through you.

If a boy falls sick on this campus, he should know that there is, at the very least, a comfortable bed for him at the MOBA ’84 Infirmary. If a health professional is assigned to nurse the boys to health, he/she should know that there is a comfortable bed-sitter to take a rest in. It’s that fundamental belief – we are each other’s keeper – that makes Mfantsipim tick and work. It is what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, and yet come together as a single Kwabotwe family. “E pluribus unum.” Out of many, one.
Permit me, to acknowledge in particular the work of the Architect, Andrew Prah (MOBA ’84) who personally designed this work and supervised the construction, and A-Kon Limited (Quantity Surveyors) and DB Royal Limited (Contractors) for the sterling work done on this project. We must also acknowledge the significant contributions of Combert Impressions Limited (owned by Albert Ocran – MOBA ’84 – and his dear wife Comfort), Mr. Seth Quaye (MOBA ’84 and his dear wife Delphina), Intrinsic Resources Limited (who provided all the iron rods required), Guinness Ghana Limited (who have generously provided a bottle of Malta Guinness for each student), Cleaning Solutions Limited (owned by Kofi Ankamah-Asamoah – MOBA ’80 – and his wife Doris), Kinapharma Limited (which has donated medical supplies), Latex Foam Ghana Limited (which has donated mattresses for the beds), Rehamed Limited (which has supplied beds for the Infirmary). General Leasing Limited, First Atlantic Bank Limited and Japan Motors Limited. We must mention the support and encouragement of Honourable Papa Owusu-Ankomah and all the members of MOBA ’74, members of MOBA ’60 who started this project, and members of MOBA ’83 (simply for the challenge). We also remember with much affection, Mrs. Odro, the long-standing School nurse, who literally nursed us all when we were students. Members of MOBA ’84 wish to immortalize this great woman by naming one of the 4 wards in this facility after her.
In the end, one of God’s greatest gifts to us, the bedrock of this great School, is the belief in things not seen and the hope the belief that there are better days ahead. The audacity of hope! We believe that year in and year out, generations of old boys will take inspiration from the work of preceding generations of old boys, make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face them. You might call it competition, but there is only one beneficiary – Mfantsipim! If the School will benefit from a healthy competitive spirit and rivalry among various year groups, then so be it.

This afternoon (and here I speak to the current generation of students) if you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I do, the same passion I do, the same hopefulness I do, if we do what we must do, then you will not let all of these efforts go waste. You are here to study and build foundations that will ground your growth and development for years to come. Concentrate on your books. Learn hard. Build a strong character. Stay the course. Dwen Hwe Kan. My personal mantra as a student here, more than two decades ago, was “failure has no breeding grounds where determination and dedication abide.” If you cultivate these, I have no doubt that all across this country and the world, Mfantsipim boys will rise up again, and this School will reclaim its place in Ghana’s history as the pinnacle of educational success and academic triumphs. Let me end with these words to the students: When others sit, you should stand. When others stand, you should be outstanding. And when they are outstanding, you must be the standard.

Thank you and God bless you