The legend of Kwaku Sakyi-Addo

How do you tell Africa’s stories without the usual horror backdrop that engages the world audience? Kwaku Sakyi-Addo has been doing that for over a decade and has succeeded in becoming an icon on the continent and across the Atlantic. Funny thing is he doesn’t even think he is a celebrity journalist. He modestly mentions other people he feels fit the criterion so casually it almost sounds sarcastic. A few weeks ago, the African Media Summit awarded him for his role in re-branding the African story from within and to the world beyond. Then came some homegrown recognition by the chief of his hometown, Akropong, where he was honoured at a recent durbar for bringing glory to his people. Now he has plans of giving back to the community: probably have reading sessions with some primary school kids.

“It feels different when your own people recognize you. I felt really good and the fact that the other recipients of the honorary award thought I speak on their behalf made it very special”

The last thing he is worried about is becoming a stale statistic in the media. There aren’t that many writers making any difference so anybody in Sakyi-Addo’s position would not have to keep looking over their shoulder.

“I like to keep up with my working environment so definitely I would get to know new developments and trends in media and technology”, he says. “I usually don’t worry when there is a new kid on the block. Komla came along and did a wonderful job and Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has been doing the morning show on Joy FM for just about three months and I think he is doing great. There’s room under the sun for everybody”.

An avid dog lover, Kwaku maintains five guard breeds, one of which was named after the ousted Iraqi leader Saddam. The dog died a few months after Hussein was captured.

Sakyi-Addo says his most fulfilling moments as a writer are many but a particular episode in a Haitian village made quite an impression on him: “Haiti is like a part of Africa chiseled off and placed in the America’s. Apart from their language, they are just like us here. They hardly see people from the mainland so when people found out I was African, it was quite a big deal. There was a time when people crowded a street to catch a glimpse of me after they found out I was from the mainland. Donkeys are a major means of transport there and the way they use them is very fascinating. I also visited a voodoo shrine in a village that had never seen anybody from Africa before and the priestess told me if she mentioned to anybody that an African was at the shrine, the whole village would troop down to see me.”

Kwaku left a piece of the motherland with the priestess after she had insisted he gave her an African name.

“Her father was a voodoo priest too and had spent his whole life wanting to meet somebody from the continent before he died. Three months later I show up at the village and she asked that I did my interview on her father’s grave. She later asked me to give her an African name so I named her Akua Anum Gbagbladza. ‘Gbagbladza’ is Ewe for cockroach and you know cockroaches are amongst some of the toughest species that have survived the ages. She had a very French name that didn’t sound voodoo at all”.

As we speak, Kwaku decides to read a few of his poems, some of which he had written as far back as 1988. A particularly interesting prose he had written about sex stood out of the lot and Kwaku takes another moment to be modest about his writing skills again.

“I don’t think my poems are good enough to be published on their own so I might put it together with the works of other writers and publish an anthology maybe,” he says.

Kwaku, who has had a long distinguished radio career spanning some 10 years, says weight lifting is still a sport he enjoys though he doesn’t lift as heavily as he used to. But every now and then he would leg press half a ton of cold steel for fun.

Away from work, Kweku would rather spend time with family than hang out. “I’m likely to be home when I’m not working. I enjoy spending time with my family”.

He can’t say if he is ever going to retire, as his passion for writing doesn’t look anything like slowing down. Someday he might accept his place as a celebrity international journalist. That will be when he realizes that people don’t just come out the blue to report for Reuters and BBC. Another legend of our time that didn’t have to wait to get his shine posthumously, Kwaku Sakyi Addo continues to inspire many writers across the continent with his tenacity and skill that has rubbed off of many who are still struggling to get noticed.