• Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, says he only entered university at age 33
• According to him, he entered Fordham University with the hope of securing a political appointment
• Whiles in his third year, he abandoned school to come back and save his business
Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong, has spoken about the circumstances around which he first enrolled in the university.
According to the lawmaker cum media mogul, the possibility of landing a ministerial role in the projected government of then New Patriotic Party flagbearer, Albert Adu Boahen was what drove him to enter the university at the age of 33.
Agyapong was speaking last week at a lecture organized at the University of Professional Studies, Accra; to commemorate his 61st birthday.
He said at the age of 33, he was already a financier for the presidential ambition of the NPP flagbearer and seeing the caliber of people Adu Boahen had listed as possible ministers, he decided that to get a seat will mean he needed to up his academic credentials.
“I went to university at the age of 33 after driving taxis, working at gas stations and (at a) bakery, I decided to go to university, and the reason was that in 1992, I sponsored Professor Adu Boahen.
“Myself, Dr Apraku and my boss Lawyer Kwadwo Afram Asiedu, we were in his house at Airport and he was sure that he was going to win (the 1992 elections) and he was forming his cabinet and at that age I had contributed immensely towards his campaign.
“So I was thinking at least I would be made a deputy minister and in his room I saw the list, I didn’t know the man was a prophet then. I took offence, that is why I went to the university,” he said as the audience laughed.
Albert Kwadwo Adu Boahen was a Ghanaian academic, historian, and politician who lectured at the University of Ghana from 1959 to 1990. As a politician, he notably was a candidate in the 1992 presidential election, representing the main opposition New Patriotic Party, he lost to Jerry John Rawlings – military ruler turned democrat – who became the first president under the current 4th Republican constitution.
Agyapong added that the learned professor had acted somewhat prophetic when he told young Agyapong that he will make a good businessman, Agyapong said he wished Adu Boahen lived long enough to see what he had become today.
“Prof Adu Boahene tapped me on the shoulder and said youngman you are going to be a good businessman. I didn’t understand, I thought that time maybe I had not gone to university and as just a 6th Former, I wasn’t qualified to be a minister.
He added: “Not knowing he saw something in me. I wish today he was alive for him to see that youngman he tapped his shoulders that time. So after struggling in 1992 and we lost the election, I decided to go to university, Fordham University.”
The 61-year-old continued about how he had to quit varsity in the third year because businesses that he had left back home were being run aground.
Agyapong, appraching his forties, said he returned home and was able to salvage what was left of his investments before building the empire that he has today. He tasked students to hold on to the twin values of hardwork and honesty – that those were key tools to making it in life.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
