AKRO HOUSE, AKONEDI SHRINE & THE VANISHING SUITCASE

The decision by Mr Kumi and his American wife to send their son Thomas to secondary school in Ghana became a hellish nightmare and a sour taste in their mouth as events in Akro House in October 1979 unfolded. The Kumis’ had been persuaded by Chicago based Mr Osae Asante a friend to choose Presec over Achimota. Mr Osae Asante had made a strong case for Presec: a total package of good school, excellent facilities, high caliber staff and good Christian training. Moreover, he had his own son Michael aka Joe Mickey there who will mentor Thomas. So Thomas Kumi came to Presec and by arrangement sent to Akro House where Joe Mickey was to help with the adjustment process.

Akro House woke up one Friday morning to news that was not only unimaginable, unbelievable but shocking to the core: The suitcase of Thomas Kumi with all its contents had been stolen as the entire dormitory slept. Who could have done this abominable act of infamy? In the interim, friends gave Thomas attire to wear but his big buttocks was unhelpful and proved a limitation. Outrage reached a crescendo level as we considered the disgrace to Presec in general and Akro House in particular. Senior John Kwablah aka ‘Mankind’ and others set out to unravel the mysterious vanishing of the suitcase. The parents of Thomas Kumi wanted to take him to another school but he vehemently objected; he had fallen in love with Presec fermented ag3g3, makpor and even ‘wilderness’. So a new suitcase full of clothing was sent to him by relatives in Accra. The urgency of the situation made Senior John Kwablah to dismiss a suggestion by one our SU prayer cell leaders that we all pray for the thief to be exposed. “Comot for there; them steal suitcase and you say make we pray?” The only option of interest to the investigative team was the Voodoo or Juju Approah because they considered that as providing faster results. Two Juju places were tabled. Dahomey and Mallam Bala of Maamobi.

The mention of Dahomey or modern day Benin created great excitement but was shot down for monetary constraints. Others were also not too sure of the capabilities of Mallam Bala since his last assurance to Kpehe Great Farcos colts club on winning a tough match against Ken Harrison Babies turned out to be false. It was at this stage that the Akonedi Shrine option or what was termed the Nuclear Option came up and was unanimously accepted. Funding the trip to Larteh to meet the fearful legendary fetish priest & priestess was no problem. With the enthusiasm that characterizes the giving of collection for the poor during Friday Moslem prayers at the mosque in the Iranian holy city of Qom, Akro House boys stepped up and contributed. Akonedi Shrine had weightier cases that day when the Akro delegation arrived. After listening to their mission, one of the fetish priestess told the delegation that the shrine can expose the thief or thieves by making them go nude and mad and that the delegation should go back to whoever sent them for confirmation of interest in the ‘madness solution’ .

Things would take a twist when the delegation arrived and after briefing us, were asked to render account of their expenditure that day. They had only one line item' Miscellaneous Operational Expenses ' and had force balanced the accounts in a way Frank Woods the famed accounting author would envy. Unknown to us, the delegation had used the funds on fresh palm wine and coco yam fufu with goat intestines on their way to Larteh. Akro House was being given a tutorial in misappropriation and of funds in broad day light. We were not impressed and asked for detailed breakdown of expenditure before committing more funds to unravel the case. The case lingered on with rumors of new suspects every day. But Presec would not be disgraced.

The God of Rev Riis, Kwansa and Engmann was alive after all. At the inter schools athletic competition at Accra Stadium, in the midst of the cheering, Thomas Kumi spotted a student from Temasco wearing one of his US custom made Polo shirts. He would alert some seniors who acted swiftly in making a private citizen’s arrest. The Temasco student calmly told the arresting party that he had bought the Polo shirt and other items from ‘Connection Man’ a Presec student who peddles items at their school on weekends. Description of this connection man led to XYZ a student who had come to Presec from Kumasi Academy. Kojo Mate wasted no time in dispatching a dismissal letter to XYZ and 4 weeks suspensions to his accomplices.

Akro House finally had closure and could sleep again with both eyes closed.

Eddiefico Akro House 76-83 NB:

This piece is dedicated to retired FIFA Referee Alex Quartey, Appah Sampong, Charles Bamfo and Michael Otu all great 1980 year group bradas of Akro House