He was one of my favorite themes as a weekly columnist and gave me headlines for several years. E T was our whipping boy but was sporty enough not to spit fire in a dicey political era. To entertain my huge readership in the 1990s, I simply referred to him as, E T Mensah and His Tempos Band in oblique reference to his namesake the great high-life musician. If you were a weekly columnist in search of topics in a dry season, E T was easy fodder knowing that he was the Mayor of Accra where you lived. When he later became Minister for Youth & Sports, it was even easier: the fortunes of the Black Stars touched every Ghanaian.

E T Mensah had also worked at the University of Ghana accounts office long before he went into politics, so we in Legon knew him ‘like our cloth.’

So then, the least thing: E T Mensah. Accra is filthy, E T Mensah. Gutters are smelly, E T Mensah. The dirt in Ghana’s stomach, E T Mensah; taking Ghana for a check up, E T Mensah; Nima Old Boys, E T Mensah; new tax rates for Makola women, who’s to blame: E T Mensah.

Listen to my pen, 1991.

“As for home, how could it be cool, when shopkeepers and traders in Accra are dancing in the streets to the music of E T Mensah? I visited the city on Tuesday in an attempt to buy charlie wote, but all shops were closed; instead, shopkeepers and their children had massed up in the streets holding placards and chanting war songs.

“To E T I wish all the best of luck in his attempt to explain to traders why he came up with a ¢50,000 annual toll. Somebody better step in from above, for it seems the gentleman with his boyish golden necklace, has flopped in his public relations with clients.” I clenched my teeth writing this.

Later when he was Minister for Youth & Sports; anytime the national team lost, it was E T Mensah’s fault, not the coach. The defeat could be traced to E T’s infectious bad luck; he shouldn’t have visited the players in their camp. Even when Ghana had won, critics still smacked the bad boy. 1995. Starlets had made Ghana proud, winning the FIFA JVC Under-17 world cup championship in Ecuador. In the midst of the jubilation, a word or two on E T Mensah was still in order.

Listen to my pen, 1995:

“As for E T’s three-week spell in Ecuador, it may have been good for politics, but bad for sports. It all means his ministry is so drab and dry that a substantive minister can be having fun away for three-weeks! Not a coach, nor advisor, nor player, E T abandoned his past style of joining the team at the crucial stages, and this time decided to stake-out with them… The Government should seriously consider promoting him to the position of GFA Chairman.” I chuckled writing this.

But here is the news.

Professor George Benneh early 1990s was Vice Chancellor of the premier University of Ghana. His interest in sports was unequaled and blended with my own, his Dean of Students. As VC he dreamed of a sports stadium for Legon which could eventually be put to national use; I and the university sports director were ready ‘accomplices.’ A suitable site had been identified adjacent to South Legon, but funding could be a problem. My initial attempt as Dean of Students to raise funds nationwide through students’ sale of coupons had been a flop. But we could at least get the government to help clear the proposed site. And where was the first point of call? E T Mensah, the Mayor of Accra. The Legon Sports Director, beloved Coach J K Aduakwa (alias Coachiito), was the pivot in the entire exercise. When Legon sought the help of E T Mensah the Accra Mayor, it did not take a week; E T sent his field men with bulldozers to clear the entire site at no cost to the University. That was some 30 years ago: the genesis of the University of Ghana sports stadium.

If the stadium should be completed next year for the All-Africa Games, the University should not forget the role of Professor George Benneh who conceived the idea, Coach Jonathan Aduakwa the spearhead, and E T Mensah who showed early goodwill for the project. We on our part were the foot soldiers, but later joined at full steam (as Pro VC) working along Vice Chancellor Cliff Tagoe and Dr Owusu Ansah, Director of Sports, to ensure the original dream of George Benneh came to fruition.

From 2012 onwards when I became President of Central University College, the University campus at Miotso was virtually E T’s domain as MP for Ningo-Prampram; and we hobnobbed at formal events. As recently as November 2022, E T and I exchanged smiles and hand waves at St Paul’s Methodist Church in Tema.

E T, No Love Lost. You tolerated my missiles in the early stirrings of constitutional democracy, and that alone made you a credible partner in nation building.

Farewell, Enoch Teye Mensah.

kwyankah@yahoo.com

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