Ala Adjetey Is Dead

THE RT. Hon. Peter Ala Adjetey died yesterday at the age of 76, a fortnight after receiving the National Honour of The Order Of The Star-Member.

He breathed his last at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital at dawn on Tuesday.

The much loved immediate-past Speaker of Parliament was known for his sternness and baritone voice which resonated as he moderated proceedings in the House of Parliament.

On the Honours' Day, his numerous admirers mimicked his voice when he called for the restoration of order in the House - “Order, Order”.

On Friday, he received attention at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital after feeling indisposed after an earlier treatment at the Trust Hospital, Osu.

Shortly after the announcement of his death yesterday, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, led the party's leadership to pay a consolation visit to his family at their Cantonments residence.

Nana Addo and his entourage, comprising NPP National Chairman, Peter Mac Manu; NPP General Secretary, Nana Ohene-Ntow; former General Secretary and Member of the National Executive Committee, Dan Botwe; former presidential aspirant, Kwabena Agyepong and other NPP big wigs, held a closed-door meeting with family members of the late Speaker.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that Mr. Alan Kyerematen, a former Minister for Trade and Industry, visited the family barely minutes after the news of Ala Adjetey's death reached the media.

After the meeting Mr. Mac Manu told DAILY GUIDE that the former Speaker's demise “is a great loss to the NPP and the entire nation.

“We have really lost a great and valuable treasure; he has been with our party tradition and in 1992 when the ban on party politics was lifted, Ala Adjetey became a founding member of the NPP.

He rose to be Regional Chairman and then National Chairman and until his death was a strong pillar in the party's National Executive Committee. We consider this sudden departure as a very great loss,” Mac Manu noted.

The party's General Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow, added that “there was no single occasion in the history of the NPP when a legal knot had come up and Ala Adjetey had not helped in solving it; to us and to the nation, it is a great loss and we grieve as we mourn him”.

Nana Addo did not comment to the media but appeared very sober and calm and left immediately after the meeting with the family.

Family members of the former Speaker also declined commenting on the death and explained that the loss was too fresh.

A number of people, dressed in mourning attires, were trickling into the former Speaker's residence when DAILY GUIDE visited the place.

Eavesdrops of discussions from some of the mourners we had was that it was a very good thing that Mr. Ala Adjetey was among the people President J.A. Kufuor recently gave National Awards to and that the best time to honour a man is when he is alive.

Born on 11th August, 1931, the late Rt. Hon. Peter Ala Adjetey was the second Speaker of Parliament in the 4th Republic.

Hailing from La in Accra, the late celebrated lawyer had his primary school education at the St. Paul's School, La, from where he proceeded to the Accra Bishop's School and Accra Academy.

At the University College of Gold Coast, forebear of the University of Ghana, Legon, he received an intermediate Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954 and moved on to the University of Nottingham where he grabbed a Bachelor of Law degree in 1958.

He was called to the Bar in Middle Temple, London in 1959, returning the same year to Ghana where he was called to the local Bar.

The late former Speaker had a chequered working life having worked from 1959 to 1962 as a Law Officer with the Attorney General's Department.

Having a stint with teaching, he taught on part-time basis at the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana, between 1960 and 1962.

Between 1964 and 1968, he lectured at the Ghana Law School.

He served on a number of Boards in the country including the membership of the Judicial Council of Ghana between 1984 and 1989.

The late Rt Hon Ala Adjetey was the President of the Ghana Bar Association between 1985 and 1989 and MP for the Kpeshie Constituency in the 3rd Republic.

He led the United National Convention in the same period and served as Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) between 1995 and 1998.

At the continental level, he was President of the African Bar Association in 2000.

Another statistic in his colourful CV is acting President of the Republic of Ghana when both the President and Vice President were outside the country on an official engagement when he was the Speaker of Parliament.

By A.R. Gomda & Halifax Ansah-Addo