… After 50 Years And 20 Years With The Chronicle By Sebastian R. Freiku Mr. Ibrahim Kwaku Gyasi, simply known as I.K. Gyasi, author of the BLUNTLY SPEAKING column in The Chronicle has announced his retirement after 50 years of writing.
The former headmaster and prolific writer has written the column in The Chronicle on weekly basis since July 1996. He is retiring as the longest serving non-staff contributor of the paper for 20 of its 25 years of existence.
Mr. Gyasi has since July 25, 2016, communicated his intention to officially retire as a contributor to The Chronicle to the Editor and management of the paper.
He attributed his “unpleasant and regrettable” decision to old age (80 years) and health grounds, having been diagnosed with heart and hypertensive problems lately and in the face of increasing and unbearable pressure on him to meet deadlines, which is worsened by his present state of health and “the uncertain, unstable and erratic power supply (dumsor)”.
He closed his chapter with The Chronicle with four installments of articles headed – 50 YEARS IN THE MEDIA – spanning over the month of July, this year.
The veteran writer thanked management of The Chronicle for the big role in his writing career by providing him the platform (BLUNTLY SPEAKING column) and the opportunity of making him better known in the media.
He hoped to occasionally write unsolicited articles at random, if God continues to give him life and whenever his health permitted. In 1997, the Ghana Journalists Association honoured Mr. Gyasi with a Citation, a Certificate and Honorary Membership of the association.
In the 50 continuous years since 1966, when he served as a non-professional contributor, he contributed articles and letters to THE GHANAIAN TIMES, THE PIONEER, THE SPECTATOR (a letter on English), THE GRAPHIC, THE ASHANTI INDEPENDENT (articles also culled and published in the sister paper, THE INDEPENDENT), THE MIRROR, THE GUIDANCE (a publication of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana) and THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE (now THE CHRONICLE).
He has also been associated with the electronic media for more than 17 years. In the late sixties, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) aired two of his commentaries and he appeared on GTV, and was also interviewed by Metro TV and TV 3.
His stint with the electronic medium, especially radio, started from 1999, when he served as a panelist on OTEC FM in Kumasi, where management of the station asked him to handle VIEWPOINT, as a Presenter of the English programme, aired every Thursday.
He was also a panelist at Garden City Radio (GCR) in Kumasi, where again, management requested him to host the programme named PERISCOPE, which was aired on Fridays. Mr. Gyasi was also a panelist at Kapital Radio, Spirit FM (once), Mercury, LUV FM, Hello FM, Ashh FM, Nhyira FM, FOX FM and Angel FM, all in Kumasi.
Outside the media, Mr. Gyasi served as a pioneer Trustee member of the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GETFund), as a representative of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT)
From 1999 to date, Mr. Gyasi has served as a Trustee member of the Otumfuo Education Fund, for which he also served in the capacity of Honorary Executive Secretary. He is also a member of the Ashanti Region Advisory Committee of the Ghana National Media Commission.
Mr. Gyasi, who once served as a representative of the Director-General of the GES on the Board of Governors of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Senior High School, is currently member of the Board of Governors of both T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School in Kumasi and the T.I. Ahmadiyya Girls Senior High School at Asokore, in the Ashanti region.
Between 1996 and 1998, he served variously as the Ashanti Regional Secretary, Regional Vice Chairman and Regional Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS). He was the Editor/Board Member of The Educator, a publication by CHASS.
He is the co-author of Objective English for 'O' Level students, with Messrs I.B.K. Addo and Alexander Asamoah, and has the credit of publishing “Ordinary Level English Literature Study Guide” with “A Textbook of English” as one of his unpublished works.
Mr. I.K. Gyasi was born at Adansi Brofoyedru in the Adansi North district in 1936 to Opanin Mohammed Kwaku Gyasi, popularly known as Opanin Mama Gyasi and Madam Hawa Akua Badu of Nsuta Ashanti.
He attended the local Methodist school and pursued his secondary education at the T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School from 1950 to 1955, after which he pursued his 2-Year Post-Secondary Teacher Training course at the then Kumasi College of Technology (now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology -Kumasi), completing in December 1957 before teaching at T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Kumasi in 1958.
He continued with his private studies (begun at the KCT) for the University of London General Certificate Examination, Advanced Level.
On passing the GCE “A” Level in 1960, he got admitted to the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1962, where he also wrote for the 'Echo', published by Commonwealth Hall (Vandal City), which had a tradition of publishing the weekly student journal.
The veteran also served as Assistant Examiner and later Team Leader for West African Exams Council (WAEC) 'O' Level English language between 1966 and 1976.
Mr. Gyasi was the head master of T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School from 1990 to 1998. He had an extension of time with the consent of the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service to continue heading the school, when he was due for retirement in 1996.
He worked at the Students Affairs section of the KNUST and served as Secretary to both the Academic Board and Executive Committee.
In 1986, he was engaged as the English Tutor of the Ghana Institute of Languages in Kumasi, rising to become the Head of School till 1990.
Mr. Gyasi is an Ahmadi Muslim and a widower. He has five children, two boys and three girls, all university graduates. They are Mohammed Kwabena Gyasi (USA), Mariam Adwoa Agyeman Gyasi, a Kumasi-based private legal practitioner, Aisha Tiwaa Gyasi, a Tax expert with PKF firm, Ibrahim Kofi Gyasi (Canada) and Adwoa Afrakoma Gyasi of MTN-Ghana in Kumasi.
His hobbies are reading and sports in general, with boxing and football as his favorite. The late legendary boxer, Mohammed Ali, was his idol.
Source: Modern Ghana
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