Obituary: Kingsley Ebo Derby (1939-2021)

I met Ebo Derby in the newsroom of Radio Ghana. We were among the pioneer newsmen of the new, post-independence Ghana Broadcasting System, which the Government of President Kwame Nkrumah was trying to establish as a station with a vibrant message to all Africans.

Ebo Derby was special in the newsroom because he was the only member of staff who was fluent in French. After leaving Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast, he had been sent to the Ivory Coast to study at a reputable Lysee located at Cocody, in Abidjan. He took to the French language like a duck to water.

His subsequent education had been multi-faceted: first, he got a B.A. Hons in Political Science and Law from the University of Ghana, Legon. But his thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and he took more courses, as the opportunity arose: courses in Law and International Politics (from the University of Nairobi, Kenya), for instance; a B.L. from Legon through a course jointly organised by the University of Ghana and the University of Temple, USA. He followed that with another at the Ghana Law School.

Despite the well-known difficulties at the Ghana Law School – difficulties that were often quite trying to lawyers who had practised abroad and had come back home and desired to become qualified lawyers in Ghana as well – he passed his exams and was enrolled as a Barrister-at-Law of Ghana. He and a few colleagues then established a practice in Accra, which specialised in company law and investment advice.

However, it was as a diplomat – a career upon which he embarked when he left the Ghana Broadcasting System – that Ebo Derby became well known. Inducted into the Ghana Foreign Service in the heady days of the early 1960s, when Ghana was making waves abroad, he served as Second Secretary at one of our most important embassies – in Paris, France.

It was there that I ran into him in 1965, having lost contact with him after I'd left the GBC to become editor of Drum Magazine. He and his pretty wife, Mildred, were tremendously hospitable to me, as I explored the possibility of working for a well-known publication called Jeune Afrique (based in Paris).

From Paris, Derby was “rotated” around Europe “mercilessly” (1) – first, to Brussels (Belgium) to serve at our mission to the EEC countries. It was there that his talents as a fluent French speaker with a legal background came in most handy. For there occurred, at the time, endless negotiations between the EEC and the African countries.

To those who knew Ebo Derby, perhaps the most memorable thing about him was his debonair nature. He was physically attractive and took great care of his appearance. He coupled being fashionable with a ready, ultra-friendly smile, which, added another dimension to his qualities: bonhomie! Indeed, charm was written all over him, and you cannot wish for better natural qualities than that if you want to be either a lawyer or a diplomat. And – he WAS BOTH!

Kingsley Ebo Derby produced offspring with two ladies – Mildred Nana Derby and Vicky Agyemang. The children he had with Mildred are Nanette Esi Derby (of the African Development Bank) and Kingsley Derby Junior (a microbiologist in California, USA.) With Vicky Agyemang he produced Nana Nyarko Derby (UK) and Yoofi Mensah Derby (USA). Ebo also had grandchildren -- Lily Victoria Derby & Noah Nana Derby.

May they all be united in mourning him, and in taking comfort from the fact that Ebo Derby, in life, had delightful relationships with many good friends, of whom they might have known little or nothing.

KINGSLEY EBO DERBY

Born: 26 April 1939

Died June 2021.

GOODBYE KK!

The death of Dr Kenneth Kaunda at the age of 97 has removed from the earth, perhaps the last remaining hero of Africa's struggle for independence. His regime was one of the most selfless Africa has ever seen. It was made to suffer – directly – from raids and other hostile acts perpetrated against Zambia by the devilish Ian Smith regime, in what was then Southern Rhodesia.

Indirectly, too, the economy of Zambia was hurt – ironically – by the sanctions which the international community had imposed on Rhodesia after it declared itself “unilaterally independent” (UDI) in 1965. A lot of blood was shed on Zambian soil by Ian Smith's agents. For instance, the leader of the Zimbabwe African Union (ZANU) at the time, Herbert Chitepo – one of the few Africans who had managed to obtain a University degree – was assassinated by a bomb placed in his car in Lusaka in 1975.

It was not only Zimbabweans who experienced hardships in Zambia, whilst forced away from home. Many South African freedom fighters, as well as Angolans, Mozambicans and other oppressed people, were provided comfort through the solidarity shown to them by Zambia, under Kenneth Kaunda's leadership. Many of these exiles tried to organise themselves to fight wicked racist regimes. Others lived lazy lives, sponging on Zambia. Dr Kaunda took good care of all of them, for he was an extremely humanitarian individual.

When Zambians were killed or injured as a result of the hostilities carried out by Ian Smith's bandits in alliance with the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS) and the Portuguese secret service, Dr Kaunda would weep – unabashed – at the United Nations and elsewhere, wiping his tears with a white handkerchief that he always carried. But he never faltered in his support for the oppressed people of Southern Africa, – support that earned him and his fellow Zambians so much trouble.

Because of the sufferings which the Zambians were going through, Dr Kaunda was often obliged to try and “negotiate” with the racist regimes. For instance, he had a well-publicised meeting with South Africa's racist leaders on a train at “Beit Bridge”.

So, I once seized the opportunity of his passing through Ghana, to ask the Mozambican President, the heroic Samora Machel, what he thought of Kaunda's sometimes ambivalent strategies.

Machel said without any hesitation “He is a solid man!”

That satisfied me, for Machel was a very very honest leader.

So, dear reader, please join me in saluting a “solid man”, Kenneth Kaunda, in the hour of his death.

He's had a very good innings and deserves to rest happily ever after, singing his favourite songs to the audience he will gather around him in the hereafter – just as he used to do, when he was with us here on earth!