Tribute to Margaret Safo from GCGL: She had foresight, was disciplined
The death of the immediate past Editor of The Mirror, Mrs Margaret Safo, aka Peggy Oppong, came to us at the Graphic Communications Group Limited as a shock because we had not heard of her illness.
Advertisement
Since she voluntarily retired in 2011, much had not been heard from her, except somewhere last year when she lost her mother and some members of staff went over to mourn with her.
Mrs Safo, born Margaret Odame, joined the then Graphic Corporation for her national service. She performed creditably and was, therefore, permanently employed as a Staff Writer on January 2, 1987.
Her hard work earned her an appointment as the Deputy Editor of The Mirror on May 14, 1998 and she eventually became the first female editor of the paper on January 2, 2002.
As an editor, she demonstrated creativity and, with the support of her team, changed the focus of the paper from a feminine-bias weekend relaxation paper into a family-centred one.
She introduced new columns to give the paper a true reflection that it was indeed a family newspaper. As part of the initiative, she introduced personality profiles with their family pictures to give meaning to what the paper stood for.
This innovation was highly successful, giving The Mirror a new image with increased patronage.
“Journalism is about what readers always want to read about people,” she always reminded her team.
Other Trending Stories
Her innovativeness and its impact on the paper and readers attracted the attention of management. It was, therefore, not surprising that in 2004 she was adjudged the Best Worker in the Management Category at the maiden Graphic Awards and Dinner Night, held at the Aviation Social Centre.
Mrs Safo loved writing and refused to confine herself to her desk in her new role as editor. She continued to write feature articles and front page news stories for the paper.
She personally led the team to some regions in the country to do stories and profile achievers. For instance, she personally led her team to cover and profile of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, during the celebration of of his fifth anniversary on the throne.
She also profiled Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, then Minister of Defence, and Drolor Adamtey, the Suapolor of the Shai Traditional Area and now Chancellor of the University for Professional Studies, Accra.
Mrs Safo retired voluntarily from the employment of the Graphic Communications Group Limited in 2011 to be able to write and publish her novels.
Auntie Maggie, as we affectionately called her, was incredibly calm in character and temperament: we are yet to come across any human being with a more measure of grace than she had when she had to deal with circumstances.
Perhaps the two traits that endeared her most to us were her foresight and discipline. Indeed, no movement was wasted and nothing was put at a place without meaning and purpose! Her presence gave us great hope and courage, especially those of us who worked closely with her.
She selflessly gave the little that she had to others. She never hesitated in rewarding staff in her unit financially for writing good stories/articles or making a very important contribution which impacted positively on the transformation of the paper. Besides, she always autographed some copies of her latest novels and gave them to some members of staff in her unit, as well as those in other departments, for their children.
Her death has therefore thrown the homes of many staff into spontaneous mourning as beneficiaries of her autographed books cannot hold back their tears.
We will forever remember her for the qualities we inherited from her. Those of us who worked with her appreciated her discipline, methodical approach to life and her eye for detail. We also saw her astuteness, not forgetting her cordiality and reconciliatory attitude, which has influenced her team’s orientation.
Mrs Safo taught her staff several things in life for which they will forever remain grateful to her. She taught them honour with regard to living up to their commitment, even when it seems impossible; she taught them respect, always reminding them that all their interactions with others should be done with respect, even if someone had shown that he/she was not worthy of it. She taught them integrity, in being true to their words; faithfulness in doing what one has planned to do. Through her help, work and consideration for others, the staff learnt invaluable lessons in being compassionate.
She encouraged the staff in her unit to pursue further training and this was seriously taken, with almost all her subordinates completing degree programmes at the University of Ghana, Ghana Institute of Journalism and Accra Polytechnic.
Advertisement
Also, she made them understand that, “the happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.” She constantly advised us “to live simply, love generously, care deeply and speak kindly”.
And truly, Auntie Maggie was the quiet type preferring to keep away from publicity. Indeed, her exit from Graphic was quiet. Hardly did staff learn about her surprise decision to retire voluntarily. Yet when they learn about it, there was spontaneous outpouring of concern that the company had lost a gem, prolific writer and real hard-working editor.
She was an epitome of courage, grit and talent as these reflected in her write-ups in The Mirror as well as the novels she wrote.
She was excellent at both fiction and imagery and her death will surely deprive this nation of her works, wisdom and knowledge of an avid author, journalist and scholar whose apparent shyness belied her great creative instincts.
Advertisement
Mrs Safo has done her part and we are most grateful for the incredible sacrifice. Ever since she departed, we have, however, borne this sense of guilt as to whether or not we really or adequately rewarded her for her toils. Forgive us if we haven’t, but if we have, then may we continue to emboss your name as an achiever in the clouds for all to see.