Review

The world mourns Chief Kofi Annan

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

August 18, 2018

We will miss greatly Chief Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN. But we must be glad he was here!

Few in history have raised the profile of Africa so high and brought honor to the title “statesman” such as the former Secretary General of the UN.

I called him Chief Kofi.  This was the only name I had for him. And that was a manifestation in a sense, long before Chief Kofi became the UN Secretary General.

I had noticed earlier, in relationship with him, that he was the kind of person who, without speaking, shouting, or any attempt at a showy self projection, stood out; even among his peers.

Those who knew him at the personal and professional level knew this trait. 

A gentleman for sure Chief Kofi was.  And, as one who had this envious personality, he also had an enviable sense of humor.
 

Meet Chief Kofi at the social level once and you would leave with the warmth of this humor tugging at your memory for a long time.

Ghana owes him a great debt. So does Africa and the rest of the world.

Eighty years of life on the average is long enough. However, and despite the tremendous historic achievements of this great man, we must feel cheated for what this unusual man could have added to his trove of achievements, had he lived on for the next five or twenty-five years.

Sure, there were and will be some detractors. But if history would be our reference point, he won against these men.

I refer you to a time when he was the seventh Secretary General of the UN, 1997 to 2006; the first and only one appointed so far to that high office from sub-Saharan-Africa.

At the time of the appointment, it struck me he was a fit for that high office. The UN could never have found a better and well tempered administrator and a secretary general, I said to friends.

The UN grew out of World War Two.  It was founded to promote peace, security, and economic development. It has within its vicinity at New York City a statue with a plaque which says, "Let us Beat Swords into Plowshares."

Then came the Iraq crisis and the charge of “weapons of mass destruction”.

At that point in time and apprehensions, with threats of war against Iraq burgeoning, the United Nations, through Secretary Annan, claimed its accolade of nations beating "Swords into Plowshares."

At that moment Chief Kofi stood courageously tall; asking for a little more time for peace, among the world leaders of his generation.

For us, and many generations to come, there stood on display our man of destiny, a courageous leader and the essence of the right man in a powerful office, at the juncture of war and peace.

The actions General Secretary Kofi Annan and the UN took at that time was to support peace.

Now is the time for a quick assessment of this great man, even though his grave is fresh and yet to soak its soil with his essence.

Strip Chief Kofi of all the achievements and honors he received during his life time, if you will;.

Chairman of the Elders, a group of global leaders working on world peace, from 2013 until his death.

The Nobel Peace Prize, rightly earned in 2001, gone.

Deny him the accolades and the honorary degrees he got, which were many.

His family, friends, admirers and all left bereft, as death has just done now.

And you will still not be able to deny him the grace with which he carried his responsibility on the global stage; nor dim one degree bit the glory he brought and left on earth.

May his Creator grant him the utmost satisfaction throughout his time in eternity.

May he take his rightful place among the pantheon of our Great Ancestors.

May Chief Kofi rest in peace.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com , Washington, DC, August 18, 2018

Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.

 

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