The second oldest boys’ secondary educational institution in Ghana, Adisadel College, has organised its second Biennial Excellence Awards and Fund-raising Banquet at the State House, Accra, honouring 16 Santaclausians, (eight posthumously) for having excelled in their respective fields of endeavour and, in so doing, contributed significantly society at large.
The late Right Reverend Nathaniel Temple-Hamlyn, a Briton, who founded the college with 38 students in 1910 in Cape Coast, was specially mentioned and honoured.
His Lordship, Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana and Mr. Seth Yeboa Bimpong-Buta, Director of Ghana School of Law currently in the Gambia, as the editor of the Gambia Law Reports, were honoured for their contributions in developing Law in Ghana and in Africa.
The first religious category awards went to the most Reverend Robert Garshong Allotey Okine, Archbishop of West Africa Diocese, honoured for his contributions as rector of the Academy of Christ the King, Cape Coast and St. Nicholas Theological seminary, Cape Coast. The late Rev. William Hutton-Mensah received the other religious award, posthumously. While Dr. Alex A. Kyeremanteng, and Nene Azu Mate Korle II of Manya Krobo, were also honoured for their immense contributions to development, promotion and preservation of Ghanaian and African culture, in the Cultural Affairs award, also posthumously.
The late Reverend Canon W.G. Harward, a highly dedicated and foresighted former headmaster of the college, together with the late Mr. Albert Onso Appiah Hammond, a former member of the University Council, Legon, Fellow Commonwealth Hall, and Executive Secretary of the Arts Council, received the Educational Awards for their contributions in education generally and towards the growth of the College.
For the sports category, the honours went to Mr. Samuel Nelson, a former Chief Administrator (Physical Education, Sports and Recreation, GES), and Deputy Sports Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sports, and Mr. Henry Ofori Nyarko also posthumously, who was formerly with the Sports Council, for their invaluable contributions to development of sports generally in the country.
The late Eben Annan Brew Mayne was honoured for his distinguished public service. The diplomatic and international award was received by H.E. Henry Van Hein Sekyi as Ghana’s former High Commissioner or Ambassador to Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey.
For distinction in Business and Industry, Mr. Ernest Bediako Sampong, founder and Chief Executive of Ernest Chemists received the honour, with Mr. Ave P.K. Kludze, a Senior NASA spacecraft analyst in the US, honoured for his exemplary achievements in the Sciences and Technology category.
Ave Kludze, at 35, has excelled as the first Ghanaian, ever to have commanded and controlled a spacecraft in orbit under the highest aeronautical engineering auspices of the U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) for which the prestigious space technology establishment conferred on him the coveted “NASA Award for Outstanding Performance” in August this year.
