Farewell, our brother Annor Odjidja

February 19, 1940 - May 26, 2009

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

June 14, 2009

Edmund Burke, the 18th century British statesman once asked how we could expect to be honored when "no man could know what would be the test of honour in a nation, continually varying the standard of its coin?"

He wrote this in 18th century England. His statement could apply to Ghana and the man we are about to bury, our brother Colonel Annor Odjidja.

Annor was a man of honor and integrity. There are people around today who can attest to this statement’s validity. They know Colonel Annor Odjidja’s story very well.

In 1981, there was a military coup in Ghana. He was then the Director of Military Intelligence, under a civilian government. When that government was toppled, he was driven into exile.

He was sentenced to death in absentia by the military regime that had illegally snatched power from a constitutionally elected civilian government.

Annor was down and out of power and out of the circles of friends he was used to, even then he maintained a lifestyle of quiet and dignity in solitude at his new home in Milton Keynes, UK.

He could have lamented about his fate, written books, been on the radio telling the whole world about what happened. Instead, he stuck to his new life in a stoic manner, choosing silence and dignity in retirement.

I started with a quotation from Edmund Burke because his name came up often in our conversations; George Orwell of Animal Farm fame being the other name.

Our conversations on the phone were usually lengthy since we were separated by thousands of miles. It usually evolved around current issues, books and articles read and how these reflected present-day realities in Ghana.

He was away from Ghana, but his country was always on his mind.

I had once asked him a hypothetical question: As a soldier, I said, could he have staged a coup himself?

To ask Annor a question was either to invite a respectful answer with a smile or see a bemused frown; it all depended on the gravitas of the question. But certainly, you got the frown, if it were an inane one.

For the question about a coup, there was a pause, and my mind raced back to times in the past when I had approached him with queries that I found out later to be silly.

In 1966, I had gone to see him at the Flagstaff House; immediately after the overthrow of President Nkrumah, about a week or so after the February 24 coup. He was the officer at command at the newly deposed president’s residence.

There had been rumors about an escape tunnel that Nkrumah caused to be dug for him. That, it ran from the Flagstaff House to the back of the Osu Castle and into the sea, covering a distance of some 5 miles. I was curious to know the truth.

“And the sand and dirt and stone during the excavation were left where, in the street too,” he asked with that bemused frown.

But back to the question I asked earlier, would he have led a coup?

After a short pause, Annor said clearly and in emphatic language.

“No…. Coups are wasteful. They accomplish nothing. It is not about bravery. Not even about good ideas because many of these soldiers have none. In the end coups only kill people. Cowards can also kill.” He said.

For me, the response was also about lessons we learned at home earlier in life. The sanctity of life. Failure to understand this could lead to some disastrous consequences. Annor knew the difference.

Then he referenced Edmund Burke.

“There is a manifest, marked distinction, which ill men with ill designs, or weak men incapable of any design, will constantly be confounding – that is a marked distinction between change and reformation…”

Annor preferred reformation to change. Whereas a coup would promise deliverance it always proved to deliver misfortune. He would rather have maintenance and reform within the framework of the national constitution.

Ladies and gentlemen, we were a family of six siblings – from a larger Presbyterian family of pastors, educationists, catechist, and Basel Missionary trained fathers and forefathers.

We grew up surrounded by cousins some of whom were and are still more than brothers and sisters to us.

As kids, we were nurtured in respect for the elderly and developed an ingrained deference for proper authority.

Ordinary childhood pranks aside, we learned early to stay within bounds of respectful guidelines for established institutions. Thus, Annor could not have made a coup to thrash a constitution constructed through the all-encompassing democratic process.

Tekpetey (T.T), our senior brother, is at least 5 years older than Annor. As such, he was out of our play circle. We conveniently called him Old Joe.

Annor was accessible to me, the younger brother. We both loved to read. We mutually described our childhood days as fun. After reading “Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn,” it cemented our alliance. Last year, I had my first grandson and we named him Annor, after the Colonel.

As an elder brother, he was a good playmate. Annor served as a convenient shield and took the hit for many childhood mischiefs that I had initiated, many of which went wrong often.

One day I humorously told his son, Tettehwayo, in Annor’s presence, that his father had caused me a lot of trouble while we were kids.

Annor laughed and simply said “Look at who is talking,” both of us knowing full well that I was the source for much of the trouble.

Elaine our sister of blessed memory’, I could always bring in to help on some of our miscalculated adventures.

Judith, the youngest, we dragged in as insurance policy against punishment. She was the one to win sympathy from Dada, should things go wrong.

Our elder sister, Willie, was a talker, so we kept her out of any planning. Sister Willie today still carries around for show the latest birthday card she received from Annor.

As a family, all of us mourn deeply our brother Annor. Sheila, Dudley, and Alpheus, are currently displaying superhuman strength in the face of our loss.

Certainly, there is much about Annor's military career that is glorious, that as family we would not know. He was an intelligence operative and a soldier. He never spoke much about what he did on the job.

But his brothers at arms, some of the soldiers who are still around today, knew him. They have declared to me who Annor was - as a friend, a soldier, a patriot and about his sacrifices as a relentless defender of the constitution of his nation Ghana.

His brothers in arms perceived Annor as powerful, resolute and as a man who always had an aura of command about him. They confirmed at the same time his extraordinary intelligence.

When an in-law heard that Annor was gone from us, he offered that “Annor was indestructible.” He wasn't being delusional; he was aptly metaphorical.

True, Annor wasn’t destroyed, as he would have been in 1981 had he not left Ghana. He joined forces with some men outside to oppose the regime lodged inside Ghana. Some 27 years later, God took him away in May 2009, when his time came up.

Now, back to Edmund Burke - reform, change as in coups.

In 1982 Annor was sentenced to death by the Rawlings PNDC regime of Ghana. To this day, family members, friends, and colleagues are still wondering exactly what he did wrong.

Colonel Annor Odjidja did right by his country. But as Edmund Burke reminded us, in a country with shifting field of standards, there can be no heroes in their individual life’s time.

The hero who stood for constitution became the villain that stood in the way of the 1981 coup.

No one could have changed who Annor was. No calumny must be allowed about this soldier and nationalist to overwhelm the true measure of this man's worth as a true patriot and a veritable soldier.

Military traditions call for steadfast honor. For those who have served with Annor, as brother and comrade in arms, you truly know who he was. Our family would wish that you would amplify that reality to those who don’t.

Colonel Annor Odjidja was born Ghanaian, of a true Ga-Adagme parentage. His late father, Winfried Tettehwayo Abladu Odjidja’s home town of Korletsom, Krobo Odumasi will miss him. And so should Ghana.

Special thanks are due to those members of the family in the UK who with their presence, resources and tremendous sacrifices have helped to bring Annor’s body to its final resting place; Bernard Odjidja, Mrs. Augusta Tay, Mark Odjidja, Ms. Diana Aryeetey and son, Rev. Gerald Thompson, and Mrs. Mandy Akwesi-Baah.

Annor’s wife Oye and children, the entire Baarmiyee House of Korletsom, Odjidja, Wilson, Brown, Aryeetey, Mohenu, and Ablorh’s families of Ghana have asked me to thank you for this honor and the respect that you have paid to our brother, father, uncle, cousin and friend. May the Great One reward you for your presence with us today.

And may the Good Lord also rest Annor in peace.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

June 14, 2009

More - The passing and case of the late Colonel Winfried Annor Odjidja