Friday 14 June 2013

Ghana’s Political Golden Era: Vote Paa Willie he has clean hands…..





“Vote UNC..

The Broad Based Party for the Silent Majority Vote for the Man of the Hour.
Paa Willie the man of cleanliness, of sincerity, of humility and courage!!!
PAA WILLIE A NA  OREKO NSA A NA  OREKO
Vote Paa Willie for
STABILITY !!!
Remember the
CLEAN HAND!!!

Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: I stumbled upon this old newspaper clipping of Paa Willie via Facebook and just had to share it with you. Don’t you just love it? First of all I love Paa Willie’s name and would be happy to vote for him on account of that fabulous name –alone. But really, whilst Ghana …sorry, New Ghana comes to terms with the brutal truth that no political party or Jubilee oil is ever going to save us ---the wonderful Paa Willie with his cleanliness and extra clean hands is a breath of fresh air, only his errrmmm ‘clean political, sincere, humility and courageous era –if it ever truly existed -has passed!!!

Anyway I know nothing about Paa Willie and found the following text from Facebook:

“I remember in those days, Prof Adu Boahen was a UNC.”

“The UNC had the best song on radio!”

“I’m seeing "the late General Odartey Wellington” which means it is after June 4th, but Gen Utuka may not yet have been dead?”

“This was '79 but I'm not sure about the date.”  

“It was the week after June 4th.”

“Yes, because 26th June was the day of the firing squad.”

 
 
**Anyway I dug deeper and found the following text about Paa Willie via Wikipedia:

Nana William Ofori Atta (10 October 1910 – 14 July 1988), popularly called "Paa Willie", was a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention and was one of "The Big Six" detained by the British colonial government in Ghana (then Gold Coast). He later became a Minister for Foreign Affairs in the second republic between 1971 and 1972.

Nana William Ofori Atta was the son of Nana Sir Ofori Atta I who was the Omanhene (King) of Akyem Abuakwa between 1912 and 1943. He was thus a prince of royal lineage. William Ofori Atta attended the Mfantsipim School, one of the most prestigious schools in Ghana. He was later among the first batch of students at the Achimota School who pioneered the intermediate degree programs. He was also the first ever school prefect of the School. His batch of students went on to form the nucleus of the University of Ghana. He became a lawyer in 1956.

William Ofori Atta was a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention. He later became the leader of the United Party in opposition to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He was detained by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah during the first republic under the Preventive Detention Act. During the second republic, he was Minister for Education and then Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Progress Party government of Dr. Busia. He was an active member of the People's Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ) which campaigned against the 'Union Government' concept by General I.K. Acheampong, then Head of state of Ghana and Chairman of the Supreme Military Council (SMC). This was an attempt by the military regime to extend military rule instead of handing back power to civilians. After the fall of the SMC, he stood for president in the 1979 Ghanaian presidential election on the ticket of the United National Convention coming third with 17.41% of the popular vote. Eventually, he became chairman of the Council of State for the Third Republic.

William Ofori Atta became a devout Christian and played various roles in Christian circles. He was one of the founders of the Accra Chapel Trust, (now the Korle-Bu Community Chapel) an independent evangelical church at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra in 1967. Ofori Atta delivered the J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. His topic was – "Ghana, A Nation in Crisis". He died in 1988 and was given a state burial.

The William Ofori-Atta Memorial Lectures were instituted in memory of Paa Willie after his death.
To read the rest visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ofori_Atta

2 comments:

  1. thanks for this blog..i always get lost in Ghana not knowing where to go.but thanks to you I know where to go for everything. thanks alot

    ReplyDelete
  2. He was my granddad, last time I saw him was in 1980.
    R.I.P

    ReplyDelete