Tribute to co-worker Kofi-go home and rest!

“Awwwww my brother Kofigo may your soul rest in perfect peace. But you didn’t tell me anything about our issues, I can’t solve it alone ooooo…”

“There are no goodbyes for us .Wherever you are, you will always be in our hearts. Rest oh bro!”

These are some of the condolences expressed on the social media platform of the New Times Corporation soon as the obituary of Maxwell Dodji Akpeko, popularly known as Kofigo, our staff who died on  August 31, and due to be laid to rest in Accra on Saturday, September 30, was posted.

Indeed, these expressions of sorrow over the death of Kofigo are testaments to an unbearable pain given the fact that August is now a month management and staff of New Times Corporation would want fizzled out in their memories after losing two members of staff: Castro who died on the first day of the month and had been laid to rest, and Kofigo on the last day of the month, August 31. But who are we not to bear?

Kofigo battled with ill-health at the time the cost of healthcare was expensive, much especially in our demographic transition to longevity due to improvement in standard of living that comes with concomitant transition from infectious diseases, which are much cheaper to treat, to more complicated and costly life-threatening Non-Communicable Diseases (NDCs) like cardiovascular diseases of hypertension, stroke, diabetes, Kidney failure, to mention but a few, which are now the leading cause of death in Ghana.

The National Health Insurance can’t bear the cost of managing these NCDs which are taking heavy toll on the population.

The national healthcare delivery system must be very proactive in preventive and curative care. Although cost of healthcare is expensive, corporate bodies must not shirk their responsibilities to invest more in the health of their workforce, because workers are the centre of productivity and growth of businesses.

Kofigo is one of the hard working staff of the NTC; he had worked around the clock to ensure that our electrical system and fittings were working to the best to get us to produce at maximum point, and in a safe environment.

Indeed, Kofigo is our troubleshooter and very diligent and committed to his schedule of work. He applied his heart and intellect to whatever piece of work was he did, knowing very well that his master trade as an electrician required maximum due diligence.

He was always available to check our electrical fittings and solve all our electrical problems and challenges. Certainly, he had been working through the pain barrier until he felt ill and his body was feeble to respond to his schedule of work.

We will not only sorely miss his unwavering commitment to the job, but his sense of humour and conviviality.

I had had a lot of fun with Kofigo, and he always made my day. Kofigo had found a way to call me by every name that begins with the letter “R”. Because of the Rahaman. He gave me a nickname as “Romario”. At one time Kofigo tried to call and nickname me “Ramatu”. But I drew his attention to the fact that Ramatu is actually feminine. Then we all laugh over it. He was full of fun!!

Kofigo and his colleagues in the engineering department had worked tirelessly to ensure that our web machine was running efficiently to print out our newspapers for the market. He was a key man in the engineering department when it came to electrical systems.

Kofigo was so hard working and dedicated to his schedule that sometimes he worked as “one man contractor”. Where he had to work alone high up the building, it was not uncommon to see Kofigo carry the heavy metal ladder on his shoulders to go up the “skies” to fix the problems on our electrical system.

We will fondly remember you Kofigo for your dedication to duties. We knew you were exuding energy to carry out your schedule, as you had immensely contributed to the growth and prosperity of the Corporation, but you were taken ill, and now the centre can no longer hold.

You have provided unalloyed services to the Corporation, I know you had fought a hard battle with your health, but the healthcare system had failed you! Certainly, God will not fail you and He will surely find an eternal peaceful abode for you, where you will never get sick again!

So, Kofi-go home and rest! God will comfort your family, and provide for their needs while you are away and never to return.

By Alhaji Salifu Abdul-Rahaman