This is Joe Passarsa. We are still discussing in "Aburokyire" whilst the foundation of the proposed Opoku Ware House has
already been laid!! I am now an "Abasiriwa", so I always have to join in a little bit later.
By the way, were we concerned about Prof. Dr. Dada Amin´s inability to have good command over the colonial language or
his stupidity by not speaking in Swahili or both or his cruelty to the people of Uganda? I talked to his lovely son Mr. Mwanga
Amin and he said his father was happy about the attention we still give to him. Mwanga´s father wished Amanfoo; " Long sit
Amanfoo over Ghana and be good like my Makarere in Kampala".
The ninth house issue is almost like the Amin debate. Do we need a ninth house? Does Prempeh College need a ninth but not
Opoku Ware House? Do we need more classrooms first or classrooms and a ninth house? We should try to answer these
questions and try to advise the responsible Amanfoo at Home.
In Joe Passarsa´s opinion, Prempeh College needs a ninth house. Why? Until the mid-nineties the Form Four Leaving
Certificate Examinations (Standard Seven Exams) and the Common Entrance Examinations prevented a lot of pupils from
entering secondary schools. Most of them failed the exams. Agyaba Passarsa sat for two times before he got the chance of
entering Sofoline, what a great thing, making "atodwe" and at the same time wishing to learn like the Dada Mmas. The present
Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which is taken at the Junior Secondary Three (JSS 3) seldom selects pupils
for the Senior Secondary School (SSS). The intake of students into the SSS is very high at the moment in Ghana. Almost all
secondary schools in the country are facing this problem, large number of students and fewer classrooms and dormitories plus
teachers whose private businesses are more important than teaching.
Dr. Dr. Flt. Lt. Rawlings´ educational reform was the implementation of the results of the Rev. Dr. N. K. Dzobo´s Committee
in 1972. The New Structure and Content of Education for Ghana was amended by the Watson Committee in 1974. It was
implemented during the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). To cut costs down during the implementation in the ´90s, the
World Bank advised Ghana to have larger classes and shared facilities (Science Resource Centres). There are classes with up
to 45 pupils or students in Ghana at the moment. In the case of Sofoline, the lecture theatre is serving as a Science Research
Centre (SRC) and a computer pool. A new two storey classroom block is under way between Serwah House and the lecture
theatre to ease the situation.
Discipline and the level of "sylla" are at their lowest ebb at Sofoline. Why? Because of lack of enough accommodation facilities.
There are no more "Boarding Only" schools in Ghana but the fewer day students a school has, the higher the discipline and sylla
levels. In the case of Prempeh College, "No master can control a student in town because it is embarrassing always to ask day
students for their exeats. Because of this, most of the boarding students are always in town. It is not forbidden to have a
boarding only institutions, so a new house may solve part of these problems.
If "YES" to the ninth House, should it then be called Opoku Ware House? I Obiri-Yeboah Mensah will say "YES". I want to
tell you a story that everybody can also read at our website under "the History of Prempeh College".
Once upon a time, there was an Asante King who sent his nephew who was a "SURVEYOR" to look for the best site for a
famous College. This Surveyor was hotly confronted by the Gold Coast "Abongo Boys" who had returned from the world war
two. The ex-servicemen asked him; "hey! Sofeya what are you doing down there? The Papa Sofeya replied; "my Uncle, the
King of Asante wants to build a College which should produce only the best intelligent men for this country and the whole
world". The Abongo Boys left him in peace after hearing this. This is the end of the Anansesem.
The Asante King was Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II and the nephew (Surveyor) is Mr. Mathew Opoku, the present
Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II. The present Asantehene attended Adisadel College at Cape Coast and as such is a
Santaclausian. I think he might have attended Prempeh College if it existed at the right time for him to do so. When he had the
chance of sending his son to a secondary school, that secondary school at Santasi has already been founded but his son went to
PREMPEH COLLEGE. He is Osei Tutu Poku, the present Akyempemhene. He was in OT House and was an ASP at
Sofoline. Otumfuo Opoku Ware II also served the Board of Directors of Prempeh College for quite a long time. As the
Asantehene, he has saved a lot of chaos in the School by serving as an ombudsman. During the last days of Mr. M. K. Atiemo,
he sent "Obofoo" to cool the students down.
Last three weeks, I talked to Mr. Yaw Manu Sarpong, former Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana and the President of the
Jubilee Committee about the Opoku Ware House. He said some of the Amanfoo in Kumasi said "BIG NO" to it but later, after
discussions they understood and accepted the ninth Opoku Ware House. The ninth house is going to be named after
OTUMFUO OPOKU WARE II AND NOT AFTER OPOKU WARE SECONDARY SCHOOL.
Now to that secondary school at Santasi. The secondary school at Santasi was founded by some Catholic Catechists in the
1950s. They named it after Opoku Ware I, who reigned in the 19th Century because both Kings in this century were King
Prempehs. I think they just copied Sofoline by naming their secondary school after an Asantehene. The Santasi cowboys
always try to copy Sofoline but we have never copied them. The cowboys from the Opoku Ware Secondary School (Opusco)
saw their peers from the hinterland. They always made "palaver" with their fellow secondary schools like Mighty Japass,
Amass, Great Nkatoatico, Supreme Omess, Super Kass, Okess, Boss, Nedss, Dass and the rest. It was their headmaster in
the 70s, Mr. Owusu Donkor (Bush Meat), who advised them not to fight with these schools again. If they should fight, then
with big institutions like Prempeh College. To raise their standards, they had to make palaver with Prempeh. Mr. Owusu
Donkor, knowing that Prempeh is always the best, never sent his children to the Martyrs of Uganda Preparatory School, which
is on the Opuscan campus but rather sent all his children to Prempeh Primary. Again it was "Bush Meat" who omitted the
"secondary" in the Opoku Ware Secondary School and made it: Opoku Ware School (Owass). The Santasi Cowboys have no
house bearing a local name. They have; St. John, St. James, St. Peter, St. Paul and the rest. Everything na saint saint saint!!!
The present Asantehene is an Anglican because of his Adisadel background. He has nothing in common with the Opoku Ware
Secondary School at Santasi. As Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Otumfuo Opoku Ware Silver Jubilee Foundation,
Mr. Yaw Manu Sarpong said he has already informed Otumfuo about the ninth house and Nana was happy about having
something at Sofoline to be named after him. Also the three sons of Mr. Yaw Manu Sarpong, Kofi, Kwadwo and Yaw also
attended Sofoline.
We can still debate on this issue, but please let us do away with our teenager mentalities and stop using insults in some of our
writings. This house name issue is very delicate, so we shouldn´t let some Dignitaries and Nananom feel insulted at home.
Mano asi!!!
