I have many friends called Osei. Many of them read this column regularly. However, this open letter is not to any of them. I know of one Mrs. Osei. And once there is a Mrs. Osei, there must be an Osei somewhere.
Osei is a special Asante name. All Asantes born come with their name depending on the day you are born and that happens to be your fist name. Thus I am Kwame because I was born on Saturday. A female Asante born on Saturday will come with the name Amma. Then there is the family name which is the second name and your father’s name which usually happens to be your surname. Thus name you take when you are born comes first. This was before we started taking slave names like Joseph, Abraham, Mary Saddick Shakur which we referred to as Christian or Islamic names. So under normal circumstance, a male Asante could have name like John Kwasi Boakye Ansah but might end up being called Kwasi Ansah for short.
When it comes to Osei, it is a different ball game. The name Osei interchanges place with the birthday name. So a typical Asante male is never called Kofi Osei or Kwame Osei. That would not be an Asante and very alien. A thorough breed Asante can only be called Osei Kwame or Osei Kofi or Osei Kwaku or Osei Kwadwo or Osei Tutu. It is never Kwaku Osei or Kwadwo Osei or
Tutu Osei. I still remember the day my mother of blessed memory exclaimed with anguish when she heard the name Kofi Osei being used to call somebody. She sadly remarked that the people had destroyed the Asante name and they could not be true Asantes.
On a personal not, I was born Kwame Anti Gyasi but was given the added name Musa because I was born into an Ahmadi Muslim family. In my village, we had a Methodist and a Catholic Christian schools. My parents chose to send me and my nephew to the Methodist school. So for the purpose of registration, we had to take Christian names. My elder brother who took us to school for the first time recommended two names to us on the way to the school: John and Moses. My nephew who was older than me took John so and I had to take Moses. Incidentally I did not lose anything since Moses is the Christian equivalent of the Muslim name Musa. Along the line, the youthful exuberance in me made me to unilaterally add Aristophanes to my name. Then I was hit by the Cultural Revolution and I should have dropped all the names and maintained only Kwame Anti Gyasi. Rather, I made the mistake to keep Moses Aristophanes Kwame Gyasi as my official name which appears on all my documents. In the attempt to mitigate the situation, I usually just use Kwame Gyasi but the damage has been done.
Today, this country has become so political on vicious party partisan political lines that a name change from Yorke to Nduom provides political opportunity for family members to connive and condone with the political establishment to hide the truth behind the death of a president of the nation. Thus Mrs. Osei might have done something wrong in adopting the name of her husband, an act which could provide legal ammunition for her impeachment from the august position she currently occupies.
I have never met Osei and I do not know the titles he had gathered through his journey in life. For all I know he might have studied hard and earned a Ph. D. from some recognised university or might have been awarded a worthless honorary Ph.D. by some fake unaccredited university after paying some US$4,000 and attending a two day seminar. Osei might be a university lecturer having acquired the exalted title of (full) Professor, a Presiding Bishop of his own church, a traditional chief with the title Nana Okyereakoto. For all you know, he might have been awarded an Order of Volta or the Pope might have honoured him for his services to the Catholic Church or had returned on a pilgrimage from Mecca with the title Alhaji.
That was why I was careful not to add even Mr. to the name Osei since many Ghanaian are now becoming equally sensitive like our cousins across the border to the acquisition of titles. I cannot believe that the craze has gone on to the extent that even on our Ivory Towers persons have fallen victim to this craze. I am told of two incidents. One happened at the bank where a professor refused to answer to the call by the bank teller to collect his money because he was not properly addressed with his hard won title professor. The other happened at the hospital pharmacy where again an intellectual refused to stand up to collect his drugs when he was called without adding the doctor academic honour he had worked hard to earn to his name.
On my part, I have had the discomfort of being addressed “Doctor” or “Professor” several times by many people at several different occasions. I have tired trying to correct people that I am neither of the two without success. So I have stopped speaking up. There is hardly any professional accountant in this country who has not had the opportunity to use one of my books on accountancy. My book: “Partnership and Company Accounts” (478 pages and currently under complete review) was the first indigenous book to come on the market treating the local company and partnership laws in combination with Accounting Standards and remains the standard on the market.. My first book: “An International Guide to Auditing” (82 pages published in 1982 in Britain) is now in two different volumes as: “Financial Auditing” (309 pages) and “A Comprehensive Approach to Auditing” (445 pages). Then there is “Management Accounting” (526 pages) and “Accounting for the Non-Accountant Manager (269 pages). Again for the past eighteen years or so I have been consistent almost every week coming out with a feature first in the SPECTATOR’ and now DAILY GUIDE on issues of national importance. So when I tell people, I am neither of the two titles they bestow on me they do not understand.
When I was taught by K. S Snell, the great mathematician (and co-author of the famous “Four Figure Tables”, the forerunner of the hand held slide rule and the pocket calculator) from Britain for two years at Mfantsipim using his own book, I vowed that one day I will follow his footsteps by teaching students using books I have written myself. In the advanced countries, academicians have been promoted based on quality teaching, quality textbooks and contribution to the national goal. But in this jungle we call home, to become a professor, you must have written on more and more about less and less until you must have practically written everything about nothing. So we cannot feed ourselves, build long lasting roads, construct environmentally and cost saving offices and dwelling homes which can make full use of the bountiful sunshine and wonderful breeze, cannot manage our economic and financial setup without relying on our colonial masters despite the numerous professors and doctors we have around. In part, the intellectuals have subjugated their learning and conscience to the semi-illiterate politicians. So our electoral system can be manipulated by corrupt politicians whether the system is handled by a university academician or practicing lawyers. That is the basis for this open letter.
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