By: Mercy Darko
The funeral rites for the late astute Poet, Professor Ama Ata Aidoo has been held at the forecourt of the State House in Accra.
President Akufo Addo, former President John Dramani Mahama and the African Union High Representative for Silencing the Guns, Dr Ibn Chambas, were among key dignitaries who attended the solemn occasion.
In a eulogy, President Akufo described Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo, as an exceptional woman and knowledgeable Teacher.
He said ”the works of the late Poet will not be forgotten” as her poetry touched many lives both far and near, especially championing the cause of Women and Girls. Mercy Darko reports.
Born on March 23, 1942, the late Prof Ama Ata Aidoo wore many hats. She was an author, a poet, playwright, politician, and an academician. She was one of Africa’s most-celebrated authors and playwrights, a renowned feminist, who depicted and celebrated the condition of African women in works such as “The Dilemma of a Ghost, Our Sister Killjoy and Changes. She opposed what she described as a “Western perception that the African female is a downtrodden wretch”. She also served as education minister in the early 1980s under the PNDC era but resigned when she could not make education free. In 2000, Prof. Aidoo founded the Mbaasem Foundation, a non-governmental organization to support the development and sustainability of African women writers and their artistic output.
The University Professor, won many literary awards for her novels, plays and poems, including the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Changes, a love story about a statistician who divorces her first husband and enters into a polygamous marriage. In a tribute President Akufo Addo described her plays, books and essays as one that captured imagination and spoke directly to anyone who had the privilege to read or listen to them. He added that as an advocate of women Rights, Prof Ama Ata Aidoo used her works to urge leaders across the world to implement measures to improve the well-being of women. He said her pen did great work.
”Her pen did the work to show African consciousness”.
Her only daughter, Kinna Likimani recalled and said her moments with her late mother said Prof Aidoo was one who was not moved by circumstances and would rather channel her energy to pen it down.
”I am grateful for your work, Mummy”, she posits.
In a sermon, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, the Most Rev Dr. Paul Boafo admonished all to find solace in the impact made by those who are no more. He said the late poet was a phenomenal woman.
”…….and the profound impact she made unto the world”.
Professor Aidoo passed on to glory on May 31 2023, at 81.
