Prof. Kwesi Andam

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PROFESSOR KWESI ANDAM: IN PRAISE OF PAIN

By divine configuration, nothing is permanent on our planet. I gazed at the blue sky, gnashed my teeth, and then shook my head after news hit me that the inimitable Prof. Kwesi Andam had join the fathers in the land of silence. Hot tears stream down my cheeks. I am still mourning. I am still sad. But that is not all. I am consoled by the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes which says ‘to every thing there is a season, a time for every purpose: a time to be born and a time to die’. In the same vein, Shakespeare likened life to a stage where everyone plays his own role and bows at the appointed time.

Prof. Kwesi Andam, an accomplished academic, renowned engineer and a former vice-chancellor of our great institution would sorely be missed. I met him for the first time during a matriculation service in 2005. I had heard much of him and so being inducted as a foundation student under his term was a privilege.

We were never at a lost under his term. He taught us that KNUST was a institution where joy and gladness reign supreme in childlike frolic; where minds merge, thirsts slaked, overblown egos deflate with wit and aplomb; disagreements was to be a sign of education and all things that belabour the human spirit are assuaged and dissolved.

Meeting him for the first time, you get the impression that he is calm, meek, and inviting. A devout Christian, community leader, connoisseur of proverbs, folktales and witticisms, philanthropist extra-ordinaire, he is simply peerless.

Then came on, the most talked of stories on campus: THE USE OF NONSENSICAL TO QUALIFY THE REMARKS OF APOSTLE KOJO SARFO. There is this long-standing rift between technicians and technocrats. The former have been tagged as the real ‘engineers’ because they are practical-oriented, while technocrats have been labeled as those book-worm, theory-rigid graduates. Sadly, Apostle Kojo Sarfo, a brilliant technician and a self-praised ‘Father of Technology’ went overboard.

He made such a hollow statement that insulted the intelligence of engineers in Ghana. He later went to throw a challenge to our technocrats to build machines as he does. That apparently stirred up the ‘radicalism’ in the academia. Joining issues with the technician therefore became irresistibly a call to defensive duty. The wind of divisional ideas came swooping. My colleagues were lost as to which train to join. They knew the academia only spoke after delving hard into scholarly analysis. But now, they were lost in the woods. Prof. stood by his words and was invited to a programme on GTV. Even in the face of hateful text messages, he composed himself and advanced first-class claims that convinced all viewers including intellectual dwarfs.

The ‘nonsensical man’ as he was teasingly known among students was a huge influence on environment. He wore a true human face, a friend, an unusual humble homo-sapien. His wit, wisdom, and refreshing candour coupled with her genuine love for all that interacted with him, apart from his immediate family, stood him out as a patriarch for excellence. His loss is indeed painful. He was not just professor of engineering. He was also a professor of little children, not just of their pranks but more so of their mischievousness and child-like godliness. In his hands every child was a priceless gem, a pearl of God. And true to his calling, he too was one of them, a child at heart: he did not take himself serious.

Whatever may be his failings, shortcomings, and misdemeanors, I think, they were all atoned for by his contribution to humanity. Apparent humiliation through sickness is not uncommon human experience. A person walking with the confidence of a Hercules today may, tomorrow, be reduced to a voiceless doll; gone with shattered dreams; a tattered net of insipid dross. Death teaches us that human pride and a life of earthly desires are just vanity.

I extend my condolences to your family. Prof. Andam, just because you felt a responsibility to society and passionate for the less privileged, you will forever live in the memories of those who appreciate jewels of inestimable value.