My 'conversion' story

By William Antwi Asiedu

The Daily Graphic on Saturday, June 26, 2010, reported that the Accra Fast Track High Court had restrained the authorities of the University of Ghana, (UG) from converting the all-male Commonwealth Hall into a mixed gender hall of residence.

According to the court, as stated by the paper,“the students would suffer irreparable loss if the hall was converted into a mixed gender hall because the UG was yet to prove whether or not students from the hall were among any unruly mob of students, who gathered in front of the Central Cafeteria on March 13, 2010 and blocked the official procession of the University Council and Senior Members, which was yet to begin, and physically prevented it from moving towards the ceremony ground”.

As a bona fide member of the Commonwealth Hall family, and for that matter, a true Vandal (V-mate), I must say that I received the court’s decision with great joy. I was jubilant not because the University of Ghana (authorities) had lost the case – no! I was elated because the judge, Mr Justice K. A. Ofori-Atta had noted that the conversion of the Commonwealth Hall into a mixed-gender hall of residence would make the students suffer irreparable loss. 

As for the legality of the conversion, or otherwise, of the hall into a mixed-gender one, I cannot and will not make any comments. But I am one of the V-mates, who would have suffered irreparable loss if the judgement had gone against the students of Commonwealth. For me, the loss would have been a serious emotional hammering due to a string of interesting ‘conversion events’ in my life, which I wish to share with you.

Air Force Primary School, Burma Camp, Accra

 Many years after I had completed basic school at the Air Force Primary at Burma Camp, I decided to take my fiancée to my former primary school to show her where I had cut my teeth as a literate. We went to the Air Force Base in Accra on a week day when school was supposed to be in session; saw the blocks that had housed the Air Force Primary School, but there were no pupils or teachers in or around the buildings. 

The structure had been converted into a residential facility for soldiers. So hweeeemmm, the primary school that I had always known, was no more! Later, I learnt that a new structure had been built to house the school at another part of the Air Force barracks. I went there, saw the school, but the feeling was not the same.

Achimota School (Motown) Accra.

Again, long after I had left Achimota School (Motown), I returned one day to the Grey City of the Outlaws’ Hill to pay an emotional visit to Stopford House, where I had lived for seven years, beginning as a tiny Form One boy and ending my secondary education with the enviable title of President of the Students Representative Council (SRC). 

 While on the visit to Motwon, my emotions were thrashed when I was harshly accosted by some beautiful female students who screamed and stopped me from entering my ‘own’ Stopford House because it had been converted into a girls’ house and men were not allowed to enter. “Since when...?” I queried! “Two years ago. It is now known as OAA House” a sweet looking student said to me with a funny grin on her fresh face. With that, I knew I had lost my greatest attraction to Motown. I hope that my favourite Aggrey Chapel in Achimota School will not one day be converted into a dining hall.

Ghana Institute of Journalism, Accra

From Achimota School, I enrolled at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and guess what; recently very reliable sources have hinted that ‘my’ GIJ will soon be moved from the current campus near the British High Commission to another place; and that means my emotional connection to the great institute may also be bruised before long.

Graphic Communications Group Limited, Accra

My interesting story continued at the Graphic Communications Group Limited, where I was employed as a reporter and attached to The Mirror. A few years after my employment, the management announced that the company’s building was to be refurbished, and again, ‘my conversion thing’ happened, this time with a funny twist! The refurbishment plan indicated that the room that served as The Mirror office was to be converted into a washroom; and today as I write, I can say that ‘I do it’ every day in my former office.

The Clinic, Laterbiokorshie, Accra

Ha! Now I’m married and God has blessed my wife and I with a sweet daughter, who was born in a clinic that shared a common wall with my wife’s former primary school. So we were very excited that my wife had her basic education and first child literally on the same soil. Just recently, we drove past the clinic and noticed that it had been moved from Laterbiokorshie to Teshie and the building had been converted into a residential facility. Aaaba! 

Commonwealth Hall, University of Ghana, Legon.

For now, the only thing that readily helps me to reminisce over my past is the great Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana, where I met solid minds such as O. T., Uprising, as well as Shakur, the man who lived in Commonwealth all his university life, though on paper, he was a ‘Gentleman’ from Legon Hall. 

So, you see some of us stand to lose big time if the courts had ruled that the honourable university authorities could go ahead and convert Commonwealth Hall into ‘whatever’. For me, I have had enough conversions already.

No Preschool, Accra!

I did not attend any nursery school or kindergarten. I went to Class One straight from home. Please do not ask why because I have no answers, but the fact is that I cannot point to any structure as my former preschool, period!