Sir Feasibility Goes Home Today

  'For I am already being poured out like a drink offering,

And the time has come for my departure.
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown
Of righteousness,
Which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-

And not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing'.

   NIV 2 ND Tim. 4:6-8
Professor Isaac Mensah Ofori (popularly known to his friends and close associates as IMO and Sir Feasibility) was born on Monday, 5th December 1927, in Vakpo, in the Volta Region. He passed away on Saturday, April 27, 2013, and will be laid to rest at the Gethsemane Memorial Gardens at Shiashie, East Legon, in Accra, today.

 
His parents were William Kosi Ofori, and Irene Yawa Ofori (nee Koku), both of Vakpo Gboxome. He was the third of their twelve children.

 
His father, William Ofori, was a senior Presbyter of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, who demonstrated his love for Christianity and the church by walking a distance of over three hundred and fifty kilometers from Vakpo to Keta to buy his first Bible. He taught himself to read and write Ewe, and industriously applied his literacy skills to his cocoa buying business.

 
Professor Ofori's mother, Irene, was a successful groundnut farmer, maker of palm oil and a local trader. Professor Ofori meticulously emulated and reflected the diligence, industry and simple honesty of his parents.

 
Professor Ofori received his basic education at the Ewe Presbyterian Junior School in Vakpo and the Kpando Senior School, where he passed the competitive entrance examination to Achimota College with distinction in 1945. He was admitted to the College on the Director of Education Scholarship to pursue a four year secondary school and a 2-year teacher training education.

 
He was the first person from Vakpo to undertake secondary school education prior to teacher training: all before him undertook Certificate 'A' four year teacher training education. In 1950 he passed the Teachers' Certificate Examination with Distinction.

 
Between 1953 and 1955, Professor Ofori was a student at the University College of the Gold Coast, now University of Ghana, where he studied Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Geography. These subjects stood him in good stead in his subsequent education at the University of Manchester, where he studied Town and Country Planning and at Kings College, University of Cambridge, where he studied Land Economy.

 
Achimota, Legon, Manchester and Cambridge; these four great institutions of learning prepared Professor Ofori for an exciting life-long career in teaching and public service. In 1951, soon after graduating from Achimota College, he was appointed as one of the first black teachers at the newly-established Mawuli School in Ho.

 
His tenure at Mawuli School was brief but eventful, for, as he reminisced, he was branded as an iconoclast. He was summarily transferred to Have Senior School after he preached what was perceived as an iniquitous sermon at the mandatory morning worship of the school.

 
In the sermon, young Ofori challenged three orthodoxies of Christianity: first, he told the congregants that the Lord's Prayer had, in part, been misinterpreted; the phrase 'lead us not into temptation' should have been rendered 'lead us out of temptation' in the light of the fact that all were born into sin.

 
Secondly, the names ordinarily referred to as christian names should, in reality, be known as biblical names and finally, he defined a christian as a person who did ordinary things extraordinarily.

 
Years later, Professor Ofori pleasantly discovered when reading a newspaper on a Swiss Air flight to Accra, that he had anticipated a decision of a meeting of the Christian Council of Churches in Geneva in 1954, which held that there was indeed a misinterpretation in the Lord's Prayer.

 
Professor Ofori spent only three months at Have Senior School, where unfortunately, his greatly reduced salary could not be paid. He was transferred to Amedzofe Senior School where to his great satisfaction; four of his pupils passed the competitive entrance examination to Achimota College with distinction at the end of the academic year.

 
In 1953, he was transferred to Aburi Girls Secondary School where he taught Ewe, Mathematics, Science and Sports. He was the first male member among the overwhelming female staff that included six Europeans.

 
Prof. enjoyed the attention of the ladies and before long decided that the company of one of his colleague teachers was interesting enough to change his single status. Miss Kate Anaman, a trained artist and a colleague teacher was the chosen one. They married in 1955. The marriage was blessed with three children. Sadly, Kate predeceased Prof in 1990 and as a mark of loyalty and respect to her, he remained single thereafter.

 
Armed with an MA from Cambridge, Professor Ofori was appointed to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science of Technology in Kumasi where his first assignment was to establish the Department of Land Economy.

 
Comfortably and happily lodged in the company of old colleagues from Achimota and Cambridge, notably the late Professor Acquaye, he worked with prodigious energy and successfully established the Department` that continues to thrive till this day. His enthusiasm for work and attention to detail endeared him to his colleagues and when the University needed a representative to the 1968 Constituent Assembly he was the obvious choice.

 
In 1969, while still a member of the Constituent Assembly, Professor Ofori was appointed by the government of the National Liberation Council as the first Commissioner for Rural Development. Accustomed to building institutions from scratch, Professor Ofori established Ghana's first Ministry of Rural Development, set up its constituent divisions and mapped out the mandate of the Ministry.

 
It is significant that Professor Ofori maintained throughout his life that his appointment as the first Commissioner for Rural Development and, indeed, his other appointments in the public service of Ghana, were national and not political appointments. The basis of this belief was that on appointment, he took the oath of allegiance and secrecy to the Republic of Ghana!

 
Upon the inauguration of the government of the Progress Party in 1969, Professor Ofori returned to his much cherished academic career and was appointed senior research fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana Legon.

He occupied this position until 1974, when he was seconded by the University to be the first Managing Director of the Volta Regional Development Corporation until 1980.

 
During the same period, he was also a member of the Ghana Standards Board, the Ghana Law Reform Commission, and the President of Ghana's Task Force on Investments. Additionally, he was the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Environmental Council between 1980 and 1983.

 
Professor Ofori's academic work in Ghana attracted international attention. It was therefore no surprise that in 1972, he was appointed visiting professor at the Land Reform Institute in Taiwan and for the next 30 years he delivered a series of lectures every year at the Institute until 2002.

 
From 1983 to 1985 he took up an appointment as the first head of the newly-established Department of Land Economy at the University of Zambia and spearheaded the development of degree programmes.

 
In recognition of his erudition and excellent academic record, the Land Reform Institute in Taiwan appointed Professor Ofori Dean of Academic Affairs and Distinguished Professor in Residence in 1985 He remained in this position till his retirement in 2002.

 
In his long academic career, Professor Ofori held visiting positions in many prestigious Universities: Harvard University in the US; University of Ibadan in Nigeria; University of Nairobi in Kenya; Ghengchi University in Taipei; University of Hong Kong; and Chulalongorn University in Thailand.

 
He was hugely admired by his students, who regarded him as a mentor and a source of inspiration, especially through his insistence on very high standards. According to some of his students, he did not suffer fools gladly.

 
Professor Ofori rendered his last public service to Ghana between 2001 and early 2009 when he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Insurance Company Limited. It was under his chairmanship that SIC was listed on the stock exchange.

 
A good conversationalist who spoke flawless Ewe and English, eloquent testimonies to the high quality of education he received and his insatiable love for reading, Professor Ofori was fiercely loyal to and proud of the schools that trained him. Achimota and Cambridge were always on his lips.

 
He often regaled his family, friends and audience with interesting stories richly embellished with history about his personal and professional life, his hometown and the world at large. A thoroughbred Achimotan and a vintage gentleman of Cambridge, Professor Ofori believed that good whiskies, especially Black Label, smoothed enlightened conversation.

 
Self assured, confident and well comported, Professor Ofori always carried himself with dignity and dealt honestly with all with whom he came into contact. He often said that in addition to the nine beatitudes in the Bible he had formulated a tenth, that is, 'Blessed are those who expect nothing, for, they shall not be disappointed' as his guiding principle.

 
Since he turned 80, Professor had always said he was at the departure lounge at the Airport. He was ready to fly to his destination, but luckily his flight was booked on Ghana Airways. And Ghana Airways, as we all remembered, was notoriously late coming or going. But alas, at 85, on the morning of 27 th April, 2013, Ghana Airways specially recalled flight GH085 arrived and Prof left the departure lounge into the skies.

 
The morning breakfast he requested Lydia, his long term housekeeper to make, was still on the dining table. Lydia thought it out of character that Prof was not up at his usual 5am shuffling about. She gently knocked at the bedroom door at 6am, 8am and at 9am she decided to enter and give him a nudge.

Her piercing wails texted the message to the neighbours, Prof was gone - without a fuss, without any fanfare, serenely composed on his own bed.

 
Teacher, public servant and patriot, Professor Isaac Mensah Ofori (IMO), truly lived by the tenets of his favourite hymn from the Ewe hymn book 585 and from Sankey's 'GOD HOLDS THE KEY': VERSE 4 AND 5

 
4. I cannot read his future plans;                                            5.Enough! This covers all my wants

But this I know.                                                                        And so I rest

I have the smiling of his face,                                                   For what I cannot, He can see,

And all the refuge of his grace,                                                And in his care, I saved shall be

While here below.                                                                      Forever blest.

 
Professor Ofori is survived by three children, Kwame Mawuena, Kweku Senyo, Afua Esinu (Mrs. Mikala) four grand children, four brothers and two sisters.

 
 
May his soul rest in perfect peace.