Jehu Appiah, my editor at large

I first met Nana Kodjo Jekrahuda Jehu Appiah somewhere in 1995. I was introduced to him by a Childhood friend and brother, Kwabena Dorbu aka “Lyttle”.

That was because I had high interest and passion for journalism and wanted a practitioner to teach me the art of editing – not writing.

Jehu Appiah was then staying at the Kalpohin Estate in Tamale and working with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) branch there. After a brief interaction, he asked me about the specific thing I wanted him to teach me. I told him that I wanted him to teach me editing, and that I wanted to learn how to edit copies, as news article scripts are calledin the newsroom.

For him, it was strange to learn editing theoretically, and insisted that I put pen to paper and start writing before the editing skills could follow.

“Go home and write any news about anything and bring it to me the following day to edit,” I recall him advising. Unknown to me, this was the genesis of my journalism career and indeed my editing proficiency master class, with Jehu Appiah as my mentor. It was not long before I christened him “My Editor at Large” because the lessons did not come in any agreed format. I could call on him at his office, at a programme or in his house to read one script or another for me to see how well I was doing.

He was indeed my editor at large.

Eventually, he was transferred to Accra years later and we got reconnected when he became a senior correspondent at the Office of the late Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama.

We stayed connected until I left for the United Kingdom for further studies.

Fast forward to today, we did not meet again until I was appointed by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, as a deputy chief executive officer of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority. He searched for me on Facebook and sent me a congratulatory message. He told me they (the media) were there to support me and give me feedback. This he did with aplomb until his sudden demise.

This came as a great shock to me because in our last conversation in July, he told me he had gone to the Central Region for the burial of his brother who was shot dead by two unknown persons on a motorbike.

He thought the killing of his brother was “contract killing” and vowed to seek justice for his late brother.

We agreed to touch base over lunch on his return. However, as fate would have it, his return coincided with my tour of duty to parts of the Northern Region to promote the one-district, oneexportable product policy of the GEPA.

We, therefore, agreed to catch up with each other on my return.

When I finally called him for our elusive lunch meeting, his colleague informed me that my editor at large fell sick at work and was rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Again, official duties coupled with some family engagements did not allow me to visit him in hospital until he was discharged. As if that was not enough, I could not also visit him at home from where I was told he was convalescing fast, because I had to travel again.

All this while, I had entertained the conviction that my editor at large would be with the living on earth for more fruitful years to come. I never imagined for a moment that these dark clouds would settle on my editor at large for death to lay its icy hands on him.

Although it was such a sad and unfortunate news, I take consolation in the Qur’an which says, in lords that “to him (God) we all came from and to him we shall all return”.

Nana Jehu Appiah was profoundly talented and gave his chosen profession his best shot. He wrote several developmental stories about the North when he worked there and this brought about positive outcomes.

He was one of the few journalists up in the North back in the day who impacted positively on the youth, especially those who wanted to go into journalism and public relations.

My editor at large, fare thee well. Do rest in perfect peace till we meet again. Nana Jehu Appiah, you surely will be missed sorely by many.

The writer is a Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority