Joe Dakota – A phobia giant has fallen!
10th April 2020
The Accra Hearts of Oak family is in mourning. A legend of the game, Joe Dakota, has fallen.
I would love to celebrate the man today but I feel so guilty and ashamed. Guilty because I only churn out these fantastic eulogies only after these greats kick the bucket. Ashamed because I have continuously, albeit inadvertently, endorsed the phrase “death before honor”!
It shouldn’t be so. It must not be so.
And I am not alone in this shameful, pusillanimous, hypocrisy we continue to exhibit. It’s something we must all work on. Dakota’s demise reminds me of that of Herbert Addo’s. I sat there with him watching TV as Ghana mourned E.K Afranie. And he asked, why did we not show Afranie this same love when he’s alive? Then went on to predict we will do the same for him too when’s gone.
And truly, we did.
We celebrate the dead more than we do for the living. It shouldn’t be so. It must not be so.
Rest well, Joe Dakota. You played your part. You paid your dues. Till we meet again.
By Anwar U. Larry