Tribute to the late C.K. Tedam by personal assistants and secretaries

“ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangels, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall be caught up together with then in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. “ ( 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17 KJV).

“ Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance.”

Death is not a blind alley that leads to human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into eternal life”. We are writing this tribute with heavy hearts of sorrow but on the other hand comforted for all the values he has deposited in us these few years we shared in his life as Personal assistants as far as his political life is concerned. We affectionately called him Daddy even though not his biological children, he earned it by how he related to us especially in times of challenging situations. His advise and words of comfort. His rich sense of Divine Wisdom brings to bare by ending each meeting with words like we are in the hands of the Lord, and others like“United we stand as a people and party and Divided we also fall as a people and a party with a common goal”.

He never compromised or betrayed the Trust the New Patriotic Party had in him and never wished to divide people except when the truth is being altered. No, not even for personal gains.He was so selfless and dedicated to what he is assigned to even in his early 90s. He was indeed an indefatigable leader.

We also saw him “Daddy” as someone who cherishes people not based on what they posses but their values placed on Integrity, Honesty, Love for one another and he always has a sense of discipline . At his ripe age of 94 years, his memory and eye sight were very sharp to our utmost surprise,the least talk of his punctuality, when asked why a programme begins at 9:30am for example and yet we set off at 7:30am and often being there before a programme commences? His answer was that we have take into account the traffic situation going earlier also helps us to deal with any embarrassment situations such as sitting arrangements etc .



Being on time also earns you respect as a purposeful gentleman and a well behaved politician. There were times without number seeing that, we are almost at the meeting place, he will let us pack his car and he dozed off till an hour before the kick off of the meetings especially during the creation of the New Regions in Ghana.our usual stop over was Afrikiko Restaurant. initially we thought we were going to eat only to ask me open the door and wait till it was meeting time.

Being the Last standing Member of The Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1954 – 1956(MP during gold coast time) and it felt like listening to stories by the Fire side which never ended. His generosity was known by many party faithfuls and those outside the party. Crowd normally come near his car to pay homage after meetings and he always gave money when even persuaded not to since it is his way of life, he will always share.

Open and secret generosity to the less privileged is myopic to say the least.During the period of giving him respite care, he always showed appreciation by saying after each meeting ‘Thank you and may God reward you. On his hospital bed at Nyaho Clinic, we always touched or robbed our hands around him to let him feel we still need him around to share words of wisdom with us and he will respond by saying ‘is much better, we are in the hands of God, Let us pray for He will do what is good for us'.

We knew his trust in the Lord, his remarkable resilience during the Loss of his Last son, our brother Fredrick in London(of blessed memmory), we were assured he can stand up and come home to continue his good works as a father and a Political Icon to Ghana and as The Chairman of the National Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party at large. Some of his words of wisdom will forever be with us and help us on our journey through life till we meet in Paradise.

He said there are two categories of people in this life.

They are 1. “THE PREYING MANTIS”.

2. THE PRAYING MONKIES”

He then explained, the preying Mantis are over ambitious people, hopping about every where to be seen or seeking recognition but never makes meaningful impact and miss their purpose in life. Whereas the praying Monkies are those who sit with hands clasped in front of them thinking of what positive thing to say and save a situation or what to do solve a challenging situation and by so doing in quietness they strengthen from within hence succeed in life.They do things to for the sake of God and country but not for their selfish interest,such are indispensable by nature and are those whom God's favours descends on Earth.

He asked us one day in his sitting room to do this exercise after narrating an uncomfortable situations that needed his concern to make us feel good and comforted as usual. He asked us to point our fore finger at him which we did he then asked how many are pointing at us? The reply was four (4) filled with laughter, he explained; when you point one finger at someone the remaining (4) is pointed at you. Meaning when you point a finger at someone whether for bad or good reason, same is multiplied to you therefore in all things we should pray to God for He watches and hears prayer and also not to seek rewards from men because God rewards . We were with him on the 25th of April at the Korle – Bu Medical intensive care unit where he was transferred for further treatment from The Nyaho hospital. Upon our visit that day, he was about to wake and talk with us but we could see our father's usual energy was almost gone but he managed to stretch forth his hands to shake our ours, saying ‘Thank you for everything, God bless you but little did we know it was the last moments we are going to share on earth with him. IT was that day he was embarking on the journey above that same night......That Journey of no return. We will forever miss and cherish you as your words will forever linger on our minds Chairman.The Chairman of all Chairmen of the NPP,and the Chief adviser to the President.

Daddy C.K. Da yie, Good bye, Safe journey we will meet again.

BY : I.T YUSIF (personal assistant)

Mercy Effah (Secretary)

Mustapha Mohammed (aid)

Monica Akyeampong. (Fmr. Secretary )