Is
any of you a Member for Wa East or
Wa West? I will give the floor to an
Hon Member for one of the Wa
constituencies before I come to the
rest.
Mr Peter Lanchene Toobu
(NDC - Wa West): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the
opportunity to join Hon Colleagues
in eulogising a distinctive man who
has departed from this world.
Though he is gone, he remains in our
hearts and minds.
Mr Speaker, the late Hon M. A.
Seidu, affectionately called “M. A.”, was a man of few words. He left the
youth of the Upper West Region with
some three core values which I
would want to recount. The late Hon
M. A. Seidu believed in three core
values. The first one is respect for
diversity. He advocated for respect
for diversity in the sense that he was
a Muslim and died a Muslim.
In the Muslim fraternity, there are
a lot of differences. He believed in
diversity so much that he saw no
differences between his sect and the
orthodox Muslims. He even saw no
differences between himself and
Christians. Both Christians and the
orthodox Muslims were in love with
him. This was a man who believed
that respect for diversity was the way
to go.
Again, the Hon M. A. Seidu
believed that every human being
must be selfless. In that selfless
spirit, in 2004, when the Wa West
Constituency was carved out of the
Wa Central Constituency, everybody
in Wa West Constituency wanted
him to come back as the Hon MP
who would nurture that new
constituency. However, as selfless as
Hon M. A. Seidu was, he said he
would rather give way for fresh
blood. He stepped down and allowed
a new MP to take over the new
constituency and drive it forward.
That was how selfless he was. At the
time that he was loved most and was
needed to stay in the political realm,
he bowed out with grace.
Mr Speaker, he believed so much
in thae fact that human beings must
have integrity. The late former Hon
M. A. Seidu, as we said, was a man
of few words. He walked the talk.
Whatever he said was what he did.
He believed that education was the
tool for development. He did not just
demonstrate it when he was a
headmaster, or a teacher; he
demonstrated it when he was even a
politician by establishing the first
private school in Wa, Dan-ibu
International School. The school has
produced a lot of scholars. As I speak
the late Hon M. A. Seidu is honoured
by many people who believed that it
was through him that they saw the
light.
Mr Speaker, the late M. A. as we
affectionately called him was not just
a politician and a father, but he was a
traditional person who believed that
wherever he stood, Ghana should be
a better place because he had
children who were coming up. He
believed that if Ghana were a better
place, his children would be
beneficiaries.
Mr Speaker, he lived life to its
fullest, and died at an advanced age
of 82. I believe that he died very
happy in his heart because I joined
former President John Dramani
Mahama and paid him a visit at his
own residence in Wa. On that day,
one could see the excitement on his
face. He came out to chat with us, we
accompanied former President
Mahama to his vehicle and he
departed. I then took him back to his
house.
Mr Speaker, in less than a week,
we heard of his passing. I wish him
check to frefect the pharase in Hon
Haruna Iddrisu's statement. Jannah tul firdaus. May the good Lord
accept him wholeheartedly, forgive
him all his sins, and give him a
resting place because we know that
one day, we shall meet again. I would
want to convey once again my
deepest condolences to the family,
many of whom are my friends; his
daughters are my friends.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I
would want to repeat the respect for
diversity aspect of his core values
that he believed in so much. Even in
that diversity, one of his daughters
got married to somebody outside the
Region. Fortunately for us, he is the
Hon MP for North Tongu. The Hon
Member for North Tongu is a son-in-
law of the late Hon M. A. Seidu. That
is how diversified he was.
Mr Speaker, with these few
words, may his soul rest in perfect
peace.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
(NDC - North Tongu): Mr Speaker,
I am most grateful for the
opportunity to contribute to this
eulogy which has been very
eloquently delivered by the Hon
Minority Leader, the venerable
Haruna Iddrisu.
Mr Speaker, as a son-in-law, it is
both an honour and a lot of difficulty
to eulogise a father, a mentor and a
big brother who was ever so kind,
very warm and always embracing.
He always had a listening ear and
never raised his voice all the years
that I knew him. He was modest, and
down to earth, and he carried no airs
at all.
He was a man of the people in the
true sense of the word, always
welcoming of other views. He was a
very good listener. He would listen to
you, and even if he had contrary
opinions, he would share them after
he had listened to you.
Mr Speaker, he was a very fine
gentleman; refined and sweet soul.
These are some of the people we
wish would never die. He epitomised
maturity and states-manship. At all
times, he would ask you to pursue
what was in the national interest.
I was privileged to know him
very closely. He shared a lot of
history with me, not only because he
studied history and political science
for his first degree, but he had lived
through history. Having been born in
the Gold Coast as far back as 1939 in
the Northern territories, he witnessed
a lot of transitions when the Northern
territories were further split into the
Upper Region, and later, Upper West
and Upper East Regions. He saw the
various military coup d'états, and he himself was a victim of some of the
excesses of those checkered periods
in our history.
He was keen to see this country
transition into a multi-party
democracy, and so, he offered
himself as the first MP for the Wa
Central Constituency in 1992 when
we returned to multi-party
democracy. It is to the credit of
people like him that we continue to
enjoy this Republic, which has
become the most enduring of the four
Republics that we have had as a
country.
Mr Speaker, having served as
Minister of State and Deputy
Majority Leader, the verdict about
his stewardship across the political
divide always makes one to be very
proud to be associated with him, his
legacy and his family. Everybody
speaks fondly of him. Since his
passing, all those who knew him and
have reached out to us, have been
very generous and profess their
remarkable recollections of the man
we celebrate today.
Mr Speaker, if anybody had any
doubt about how a unifier or con-
summate democrat he was, when we
go through his debates in this House,
we would realise that this was
indeed, a true patriot. Mr Speaker, I
hold in my hands the Official Report
of 12th January, 1995.
Contributing to the debate on the
Sessional Address as delivered by H.
E. Jerry John Rawlings, this is what
the Hon M. A. Seidu had to say at
column 69:
“Mr Speaker, this is a hallmark of a great states-
man, to confess to his people
where he feels that he has not
performed satisfactorily. No
part of the Address com-
forted me more than the
conciliatory tone of it. This
time, His Excellency was
appealing for tolerance not
only appealing to the
opposition parties but he
included even the Pro-
gressive Alliance, asking
that all people in the country
should avoid utterances that
are likely to jeopardise the
peace and stability which we
have enjoyed so much. Mr
Speaker, peace and stability
has been with us for so long
that many people take them
for granted. They just think it
is a matter of course that we
are enjoying peace, but I
think this is in the best
direction and it has been
brought about by the
Government as well as the
security agencies.''
Mr Speaker, he continued at
10.55 a. m.:
“The other appeal I would like to draw attention of
fellow Ghanaians to is the
fact that the President
mentioned that important
national issues should not
be politicised - things like education, the economy of
the country the stability of
the country. These, he
thinks, should be devoid of
all political interests
because they concern all of
us. Mr Speaker, permit me
to give you an analogy
from my constituency to
illustrate this point. We
often say that you cannot
turn a mud fish into tilapia,
neither can you turn
herrings into tuna fish. But
when it comes to the
question of refilling a
dried-up river where all the
fishes live, then it must be
the concern of all the
fishes. It is only when there
is water in the river that the
fishes can survive; when
there is water, then they
can agree to disagree. The
herrings can decide to
swim on top of the water,
the mud fish can go under
the water and live in holes
and eat each other there,
while the tuna can be
swimming in the middle.
But when there is no water,
they cannot exercise these
right that they have. I liken
the river to Ghana, the
fishes to the political
parties that we are thinking
of and the development of
the economy to the
development of this nation;
that is the water. When the
whole nation has
developed, then we can
agree to disagree within a
developed nation and
nobody would become
deprived. So I think we
have to take seriously his
call that we should not
politicise things that are in
the interest of this nation as
a whole. I think that this is
wisdom from a really great
leader and statesman”
This was the late Hon M. A.
Seidu. Depth, wisdom, intellect and
maturity, an outstanding politician of
his era.
Mr Speaker, his legacy lives on.
Much has been said about the
institution he established, the Dan-
ibu International School. Having
worked at the Ministry of Education
for four years, I can confirm that
there was no year that that school did
not feature awardees in the
prestigious Head of State Awards.
Every year, one could rest assured
that the Head of State Awards would
have students from the Dan-ibu
International School.
Hon Members who spoke before
me, including my very good friend,
Hon Peter Toobu, who was our
Junior Common Room (JCR)
President when we were in Com-
monwealth Hall, have talked about
some of the products from that
illustrious school.
Mr Speaker, this country is really
blessed to have had Hon M. A. Seidu
pass not only through this House, but
our educational institutions. What I
really admired about him was that as
far back as 1969 when he graduated
from the University of Ghana, he
decided to go back to the Upper West
Region and give back, starting as a
class teacher and rising all the way to
become a headmaster and the first
Upper West Regional Director of the
Ghana Education Service.
How many people would do that
these days: return to their hometowns
right after graduation and not remain
in the capital, looking for bigger jobs
and opportunities and bigger and
fatter pay cheques? He immediately
returned and dedicated all his life
toward the advancement of his home
region. What a shining example for
many young people today to emulate.
I am deeply inspired by the work,
legacy and his commitment to sports-
manship that he exhibited in his
lifetime.
Mr Speaker, as I conclude, I can
only pray that the good Lord would
strengthen his dear wife, Mama
Christie as we call her; my beloved
wife and sweetheart, Nuhela - [Hear! Hear!] - big sister, Shamima
as we call her; the last pampered son,
Holi; Halida and all the others. May
the Almighty grant the beautiful soul
of Hon M. A. Seidu, Jannah-tul
firdaus.
Majority Leader (Mr Osei
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu): Mr Speaker,
I beg to join ranks with the Hon
Minority Leader in the tribute that he
has rendered in memory of the late
Hon Mumuni Abudu Seidu, affect-
tionately called M. A. Seidu.
Mr Speaker, I met the person
whose memory we are eulogising
today in Parliament in 1997. I just
learnt today that when I met him in
1997, he was 58 years at the time and
I was 39 years. The late M. A. Seidu
was from royal ancestry and carried
himself as such in the House. He was
baptised into politics by his father
who was a member of the colonial
Legislative Council and later, the
Legislative Assembly.
Mr Speaker, he trained as a
teacher, and eventually rose to
become the headmaster of Wa
Secondary School as it was known at
the time. He was a sportsman in his
early days and when he grew up, he
became a keen sports enthusiast. He
is on record as the first person to
establish an international school in
Wa which was at the time, part of the
greater Upper Region.
Mr Speaker, Hon M. A. Seidu,
whose life we celebrate today, was a
three-time MP for Wa which has now
been partitioned into two: Wa
Central and Wa West. His tenure
spanned the period, January 7, 1993
to January 7, 2005. The Hon Member
was noted for his calmness in
Parliament. He was a very well-
composed gentleman and a pleasant
character.
His strong passion in Parliament
was about the introduction of quality
education in Ghana. I remember
when we came to debate the
introduction of the Free Compulsory
Universal Basic Education (FCUBE)
by President Rawlings, he was most
passionate and spoke to the fact that
he wanted to live to see the day when,
as a country, with resources availing
itself to us, we could introduce free
compulsory universal tertiary
education in this country. He was so
concerned about the nation being
able to spread education to all
corners of the country to enable our
youth benefit from this.
Mr Speaker, the quotation by the
Hon Minority Leader is most apt.
That is when the House was debating
the Ghana Education Service on 19th
July, 1995, some of us were not in the
House at the time, but this quotation
has been made. In fact, I think that
when we came to introduce the Free
Senior High School programme, it
was quoted by an Hon Member
whose name I have forgotten. He
quoted Hon M. A. Seidu.
Mr Speaker, it is by a strange
coincidence that the Hon Minority
Leader has quoted the same words
attributable to Hon M. A. Seidu. To
me, the relevant portion is:
“Taking into consideration that the fee-free compulsory
education was introduced in
this country since 1961, as at
now, statistics indicate that
only about 75 per cent of
children in the southern
sector and 30 per cent in
northern sector of school
going age gain admission or
really go to school. So I think
that there is still a lot to be
done to improve education in
this country”.
Mr Speaker, that epitomises the
personality whose memory we
eulogise today. When we first met
him in Parliament in 1997, he was the
Deputy Majority Leader. He served
under Hon J. H. Owusu Acheampong
and subsequently under Hon Dr
Kwabena Adjei who were the
Majority Leaders between 1997 and
2000. He served as their deputies.
Mr Speaker, in the blood and
thunder days of the 31st December,
1981 revolution, Hon M. A. Seidu, in
his earlier life, came under the gavel,
he was bastardised and indeed, torn
to shreds, but eventually, truth
triumphed over lies. That is how
come the system persuaded him to
contest as an MP on the ticket of the
NDC in Wa Central.
Mr Speaker, as a country, a
people and as MPs, we should not
lament when people elect to
bastardise us.
The lessons to learn is to stay
focused and do what we think is
right, and I believe that in the fullness
of time, as it happened to M. A.
Seidu, we shall be resonerated. Prof.
Busia once said that in Africa, if one
wants to be a successful politician,
the person must have a large stomach
to swallow everything; the good and
the bad - what is worthy and what is rubbish. He said to us that we should
stay focused as the Hon M. A. Seidu
did, and in the end, he was rewarded
massively and recognised by a
society as a man of merit.
May his soul rest in perfect peace.
