Lt. Col. S.K Ofosu-Appiah
Brief info
He is the fourth of seven children born to the late Opanyin Kwame Apea-Nuamah of the Etena clan of Abetifi-Kwahu and the late Obaapanyin Amma Oforiwa of the Kaniwa Ayoko clan also of Abetifi-Kwahu. He was born at Atebubu in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana on the 17th of June 1941. Unlike his siblings who lived their childhood years with my parents, he lived almost all his childhood years with his maternal aunt and uncles, away from his parents. By 1947, his parents had moved from Atebubu to Koforidua. He was made to join them from Kwahu en-route to Nsawam to stay with another maternal uncle of mine, the late Opanyin Kwasi Osafo. He arrived at Nsawam in 1948 and entered the Nsawam Presbyterian Primary School. In 1956, he entered T.IAhmaddiyya Secondary School in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region.
In 1958, while in his third year, he decided to pursue a long-distance education by taking a correspondence course with The Rapid Results College (RRC) in the United Kingdom. For his third term between 1958 and 1959, he undertook these studies in addition to his normal secondary school studies. It was tough on him though, but he was burning the midnight oil. In December 1959, he sat for the GCE ‘O’ Level at the Koforidua centre.
He entered the Ghana Military Academy, Techie on 20th of October 1961 to train as an officer in the Armed Forces. He wanted to become a pilot. He was one of the fifteen newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenants who were posted to the Ghana Air force Station located at Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana, with the Air force rank of “Pilot Officer”. After three months of training, he was found to be unfit to fly due to his poor eyesight. He had the option to remain with the Air force as a ground officer but instead, he opted to go to the Army as an infantry officer because he found the Army more adventurous than being an administrative officer at the Air force. He was posted back to the Army.
During his service in the Armed Forces of Ghana, he held many appointments. In 1981, as a Battalion Commander, 2nd Battalion of Infantry in Takoradi, he found it as a duty to counter the 31st of December coup d’état staged by Flight Jerry Rawlings. He was however unsuccessful in his attempt and had to escape from the country to go into exile on the 6th March 1982. His 150-page book, Allegiance versus Indiscipline (A Ghanaian Soldier’s Story) which he authored gives an interesting account of his activities and that of his colleague exiled service personnel during those difficult days in Ghana.
By 1996, he could not resist the strong urge to return home. He finally moved to Ghana in 1998 to settle. In 2001, he took up a job with the National Security Organisation as the National Security Co-ordinator at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra. He left the National Security Organization in 2007 to take his rightful place among the senior citizens of Ghana as a pensioner.
During his early years in pension, he experimented with entrepreneurship with the establishment of a pure water manufacturing company (Hill Flow) at Abetifi. The company operated from 2011 until 2014 when he shut it down to begin enjoying his old age.
In 1968 when he was a captain serving with the 4th Battalion of Infantry in Michel Camp, Team, he married his first wife Gertrude Ofosu-Appiah at a sumptuous wedding at the Presby/Methodist Church, the first in his family. He had four adorable children with her, Ophelia of blessed memory, Otto, Eunice and Yaa. They divorced in 1978 and in 1988, he married his wife Matilda in London. He has two sons Junior and Nana with his second wife Josephine whom he married in London.