Many brave men and women has fought in their own special ways to make the country Ghana what it is today. Ranging from the great footballer, Baba Yara to the elaborate Mrs. Theodosia Salome Okoh, we bring you some unsung heroes and heroines who have received little or not appellations for what they did for their country;
i. Baba Yara (1936 - 1969)
When it comes to one of the greatest footballers Ghana has produced, the name of Baba Yara cannot be left out. He was born on October 12, 1936 at Kintampo. His father was a farmer and tailor named Seidu Mardah who hailed from Zini (now Upper West Region).
His father was married to two wives and Amina, the eldest wife gave him five children. The youngest of these children was also the only male child and was called Baba Yara. Baba Yara's sisters were Sheitu, Zinabu, Fulera and Rahinatu.
He was named after his uncle Mardah Osumanu and “Baba Yara” was his nickname which Baba Yara inherited. Baba Yara was a great winger and his originality accompanied by his superb dribbling moves made Sundays one of the most enjoyable times in the 1960's.
He wowed spectators with his great football abilities such as scoring goals from almost impossible angles. With such great fame and talent in his prime, Baba Yara was humble and a real gentleman either on or off the field and this made him a hero in his lifetime.
Baba Yara was so famous that decades after his death, his images still lingers in the office of the sporting public in Ghana as well as other parts of Africa. One of Ghana's football stadium was named after him in his honour.
ii. Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir Aggrey (1875 - 1927)
Born on the 18th of October, 1875 at Anomabu in the Central part of Ghana (then Gold Coast) to Prince Kodwo Kwegyir, Chief linguist in the court of King Amonoo V of Anomabu and Princess Abena Annuah of Ajumaku. He was the fourth of eight children and his father had married thrice, with the mother of Aggrey being the last.
Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir Aggrey, popularly known as “Aggrey of Africa” is one of the prominent figures in the history of education in Africa. He was a sociologist, preacher, orator, and a think tank politician. He became more famous for his
epigrammatic and mind-blowing sayings. He began his education at the Wesleyan School and his broad knowledge gained him the administration of Reverend Dennis Kemp, a Wesleyan missionary who had arrived in Cape Coast from the Barbados, West Indies.
He became a temporary pupil teacher after college at Abura-Dunkwa which was near Cape Coast but later served as a soldier in the Fanti-Ashanti war under Colonel Sir Francis Cunningham Scott. Dr. Aggrey fought in Kumasi in 1897 but returned home unhurt and was made the Tufuhene (Field Marshall) in his father's town. Even though he accepted the honour, he politely left it's field and followed his passion of education and other civic programmes.
Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir Aggrey was a co-founder of the Achimota College and the Aggrey Memorial School in Cape Coast was named after him.
iii. Mrs. Theodosia Salome Okoh (1922 - 2015)
Mrs. T. S. Okoh was born on June 13, 1922 to the Very Reverend Emmanuel Victor Asihene, who was then the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1951 to 1954. Her father was a great artist and one of the teachers tasked to do the “Special Art Course” or the “Hand an Eye Course”, as it was then called, in Accra. Her mother was Dora Asihene, who was also an artist in her own special way in baking, weaving, and designing of her children's dresses.
Mrs. Theodosia Okoh's eldest brother, Emmanuel Victor Asiy was the professor and head of the Art Faculty of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi while her elder sister, Emily was the education officer
and Vice Principal of the Winneba Specialist Training College and her younger sister, Letitia Asihene (now Dr. Letitia Obeng) was also an artist and is now an Aquatic Biologist of note and was Ghana's first female scientist.
From her childhood back in the streets of Anum, her hometown, she began her artistic career by drawing on any paper she came into contact with. Mrs. Theodosia Salome Okoh designed the Ghana flag of which which she had her motivation from the rich vegetations of Ghana, the blood of our forefathers, and the country's mineral riches. She is the best ambassador of Ghana and her artworks fly high on many buildings in the country.
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