To write or not to write?

At a funeral at my church at the Garrison Methodist-Presbyterian Church (GMPC), Burma Camp on Saturday, October 26, 2024, I was once again reminded about something I had dilly-dallied about for a while. Indeed, it had become for me a case of “let this cup pass me by!”

“To be or not to be? That is the question” is a popular Shakespearean quote from his tragedy Hamlet. This was the agonising question the lead character in the play, a Danish prince Hamlet asked himself at the peak of his indecision.

His father, king of Denmark, had been murdered by his brother, who went on to marry his mother the queen. The distraught prince Hamlet was then tasked by his father’s ghost to avenge his death by killing the uncle and his mother.

Tina’s question

In my case, it was a matter of a modification of “To be or not to be? That is the question” to “To write or not to write? That is the question” that, I had been agonising over for a while.

When the usher Tina met the two of us on our way to the vestry on Sunday, October 19, 2024 at our Garrison Methodist Presbyterian Church (GMPC), Burma Camp, her question was direct.

“Sir, when is the next article coming?” Not satisfied with what I murmured, she pressed on saying, “Sir, seeing the two of you together, I know something will come out soon.”

My indecision-bubble of writing about the demise/funeral of my friend Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey’s wife was unexpectedly burst by the usher Col Tina Assan.

In 2000 at the 69 Airborne Force, Tamale, the then Officer-Cadet (O/Cdt) Ernestina Assan and her mate O/Cdt Vera Quaye jumped their way into the history books when they became Ghana’s first female paratroopers after successfully going through the gruelling parachute training.  

As the proud Commanding Officer of the two ladies at the Ghana Military Academy, I have maintained a special relationship with the two lady-officer pacesetters.

When Tina challenged me therefore, I had no choice but to write on a topic I wanted to avoid. After all, in 2000, I had challenged her and Vera to do something no female had ever done in the GAF; jumping from an aircraft!

Mrs Sophia Siaw-Mamphey

Sophie as she was generally called died suddenly at 68. For us MethodistPresbyterians who take communion once a month on the first Sunday of the month, we were all at our GMPC, Burma Camp on Sunday, September 1, 2024.

Indeed, she drove her husband to church that morning.

So, when I got a phone call from Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey four days later on Thursday evening saying, “Dan, Sophie is gone,” my immediate question was “gone where?”

When he confirmed it, quoting my former Senior Housemaster/later Headmaster in secondary school, I asked Kwame “is this a piece of nonsense you are telling me?”

Known in school as Sophia Siaw at Archbishop Porters Girls Secondary School, Takoradi, Mrs Sophia Kumiwa Siaw-Mamphey was the wife of Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey, a retired Ghana Air Force pilot who served as the DG, Ghana Civil Aviation, former Chairman of the African Civil Aviation Commission, and more recently Ghana’s representative at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Montreal, Canada.

Calm, quiet, soft-spoken and unassuming, Sophie as she was generally called, was described as “a lady’s lady!” Sophie worked with the Social Security Bank (SSB) for a while.

However, her husband’s frequent absence from home and the pressures of raising their young family forced her to retire early from the formal sector into the informal sector as an entrepreneur.

At her funeral at the GMPC, Burma Camp, on Saturday, October 12, 2024, our huge church suddenly became too small for the large number of mourners from all walks of life who came to pay their last respects to Sophie.

The Chief of Adumasa-Akwamu, Nana Ansah Kwaw IV, a representative of the Chief of Gyakiti-Akwamu, the Chief of Obo-Kwahu were some of the royals at the funeral.

From the Aviation Industry, Ghana Civil Aviation, Passion Air, Antrak and others were heavily represented. So were many of Ghana’s retired pilots as well as current ones.

Needless to say, the top brass of the Ghana Armed Forces, both serving and retired, Officers and Men of GAF as well as Defence Civilian Staff were all there in their numbers.

Preaching the sermon, the Senior Chaplain of GMPC, Commander (Cdr) Benedict Quayson, emphasised the importance of love in marriage. 

He stated that having seen the devastation to A/Cdre Mamphey by his wife’s death, it was obvious that their marriage was well grounded on love as God wanted it to be.

Tribute after tribute attested to her God-fearing nature and her homeliness. He, therefore, asked spouses to learn from the example of Sophie and her husband.

Also without directly mentioning galamsey, the Chaplain eschewed the greed with which a few in authority without conscience have converted the country’s environment into wasteland, as if they will live forever. As a recent clip put it aptly, “it will all end in a box.”

Sophie led a simple, decent and contented life not harming anybody, let alone destroying the environment for gold. Concluding, the Chaplain reminded us that, ultimately, our journey on earth would end in a casket as we were all witnessing with Sophie.

All the gold we are killing for with mercury, lead and cyanide will be useless in the face of death!

To my friend/brother and my bestman A/Cdre Kwame Mamphey (Rtd), condolences to you, your boys and the grandchildren.

May Sophie’s soul rest in the bosom of the Lord, and for us, serve as a shining example of decency, decorum, discipline and belief in God as her tributes stated! Mrs Sophia Kumiwa Siaw-Mamphey, rest in peace!

Leadership, lead by example! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!

The writer is former CEO of African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya/Council Chair Family Health University College, Accra. 

E-mail: dkfrimpong@yahoo.com