Baker Appointed Ghanaian Consul General

Canada's capital. Ottawa is about 200 miles away from Toronto where the bulk of Canada's Ghanaian population lives. Some have estimated that the Ghanaians living in Canada who have adopted Canadian citizenship and therefore require visas to travel to Ghana at about 100,000. For many years, Ghanaian requiring the services of the Ghana High Commission had had to travel to Ottawa or go through the painful process of dealing with an unresponsive embassy bureaucracy by mail and telephone. The tenure of the affable Mr. Annan-Cato (now Secretary to the Cabinet at the Castle) as the Ghanaian community as saw High Commissioner to Canada "glory days" compared to the tenures of his predecessors.

Mr. Annan Cato was responsive to the needs of the Ghanaian community and worked hard to establish a Ghanaian Consulate in Toronto managed by a Ghanaian Consul General, Dr. Martin Kwadwo La- Kumi. A dentist by profession. Dr. La-Kumi had endeared himself to the Ghanaian community by working hard to unify the community through the promotion of a union of Ghanaian associations in Toronto. Dr. La -Kumi offered his services without compensation. Ghanaians in Toronto were able to obtain visas in Toronto without having to travel to Ottawa. Visas fees collected were sent to Ottawa thus creating a good revenue stream for the Government of Ghana. The Ghana government did not have to incur any overhead expenses in Toronto. Dr. La-Kumi operated the consulate from his dental offices with his medical staff doubling as consular assistants. As part of his responsibilities as Consul-General, Dr. La-Kumi was expected to receive all Ghanaian dignitaries visiting Toronto.

Under the NDC government, many such Ghanaian dignitaries including official ministerial delegations then presidential candidate J.A. Kufuor passed through Toronto and were hosted by him at his own expense (unlike ambassadors and high commissioners who have virtually unlimited entertainment budgets).

Unfortunately for La-Kumi, he never openly identified with any political party. His even-handed approach and his excellent relationship with the numerous government ministers who were passing through Toronto did not sit well with the NPP organization which was actively campaigning against the then government. To the NPP group in Toronto, La-Kumi was too close to the NDC, having been appointed during their tenure of office. That La-Kumi donated $1000 to candidate Kufuor when he was canvassing for funds for their 2000 elections did not make any difference to the NPP party stalwarts in Toronto.

Fast forward 2001. NPP wins elections and Kufuor is sworn in. Party chairman Odoi-Sykes is rewarded with an ambassadorial appointment to Canada, replacing career diplomat Oliver Lawluvi who had taken over from Annan-Cato and worked closely with La-Kumi in Toronto. The NPP organization decided to wrestle the Consul-General position from La-Kumi. They worked hard on Odoi-Sykes who, although a neophyte in Canada and diplomacy did not crosscheck the information he was being fed with either the Toronto community, the Castle of External affairs in Accra. At a party function in Toronto which was attended by La-Kumi, Odoi-Sykes proclaimed at the rally 'New party, new appointments@ and immediately proceeded to refer to La-Kumi as the 'former Consul General'. This was obviously embarrassing enough to La-Kumi who shortly after the incident tendered in his resignation and returned all documents and materials for operating the consulate to the high commission in Ottawa. Ghanaian had to start sending their visa applications to Ottawa again. Back to square one!

The NPP machinery obviously struggling with how to fill the vacuum turned to a Filipino grocery store operator to accept the appointment as consul general for Ghana. The Ghanaian community protested vehemently and the Filipino, not wanting to lose his Ghanaian customers backed out of the appointment. Next, the NPP decided to offer the appointment to one of their Toronto stalwarts, Nana Boahene (alias 'Bossin'), a former Asantefuohene of Toronto. The story goes that the government has decided to set up a full blown consulate in Toronto with rented offices and paid staff to be headed by Nana Boahene, who has apparently undergone training and orientation in Accra. Affable and pleasant, Nana Boahene is well known in Toronto as a baker who sells his baked products at Gain functions. How that experience translates into running a consulate for a country is best known to the NPP government. The Ghanaian community in Toronto is equally upset with the appointment of one Mr. Amoama, a local party leader and close confidante of president Kufuor as deputy High Commissioner in Ottawa. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Amoama worked as a jail guard at a prison near Toronto. Amoama is said to have instigated the removal of La-Kumi as Consul-General. His guard experience is obviously an affront to career diplomacy in Ghana and will be a painful and costly learning experience for Ghana.

Where does it all leave Ghana? We are going to pay money to run a consulate, which was being operated gratuitously by a patriotic Ghanaian. And the proposed consul General is totally unprepared for the assignment by qualification and experience. Ghanaian-Canadians also have to live with a deputy high commissioner who knows nothing about government, consular work and international diplomacy. In fact some believe that the appointment may be illegal under the laws of Ghana, which prohibit Ghanaians with foreign citizenship to hold ambassadorial appointments without renouncing the foreign citizenship. God help Ghana.

Rejoinder by Kofi-Addo Agyemang

I don't know where the writer got his information. Nana Kwame Opoku Boahen (former Toronto Asantefuohene) attended Kumasi Government Boys' School. He proceeded to St Peters' Secondary School (Nkwatia) and Tweneboa Kodua Secondary School (Kumawu) He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc. Admin) in Business Administration from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He being a baker right now, is business not thieving. Period. Check him out at Foreign Affairs.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Amomah is a graduate from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 1969 studying Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation worked for the Gov't of Ghana as a Senior Project Counterpart to the Ghana Gov't/UNDP Agricultural Mechanization Project base in Tamale. He also worked with the John Holt Bartholomew as a field Service Engineer and later with Kumasi Brewery as a Mechanical Engineer. He immigrated to Canada in 1978. First worked with the University of Manitoba as a Plant Engineer for 8 years. Moved to Ontario in 1991 and has worked for Wear Corp. of Canada as a Corporate Engineer, also as an Engineer with the Gov't of Ontario, Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services but not as a security guard at a prison.

By the way Dr. La-Kumi is also Ghanaian Canadian. Is Dr. La-Kumi complaining or someone is complaining on his behalf? He has done well for the Ghanaians in Toronto and I pray he understand what a change means.

Please Mr. Ghanaweb, check information and back ground of people before you post such humiliating articles on the SIL

Kofi-Addo Agyemang Toronto, Canada
e-mail:- africom02@hayoo.com