University of Ghana remembers Prof. Awoonor
President John Dramani Mahama yesterday joined the University of Ghana community in a colloquium at the Great Hall to mark the first anniversary of the death of Prof. Kofi Awoonor.
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The colloquium, titled "A celebration of the first anniversary of Kofi Awoonor's life and legacy", was also attended by members of the academia, the Awoonor family, students and other well-wishers.
Prof. Awoonor was killed in a brutal shooting incident at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya on September 21, 2013.
He died from gunshot wounds to his midsection during the attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi.
Somali militant group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.
Prof. Awoonor, who was in Nairobi as a guest speaker for a conference, left his hotel with his son to the mall to have breakfast together when the incident occurred.
Anniversary
A video on some of the works of the late poet and academic titled; "Awoonor Looks Beyond, The Final Night", was shown at the event.
The throbbing of fontonfrom and attikpi drums provided a traditional flavour to the event.
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The Kofi Awoonor Literary Prize competition was also launched.
President Mahama recognised the laudable role Prof. Awoonor played in national affairs during his lifetime and said the nation would always remember him.
Describing Prof. Awoonor as an astute intellectual, statesman and diplomat, the President said his frankness placed him in a special position.
"He was frank and abrasive and he would say things most of us shiver to repeat,” the President said of the late academic who was one-time Chairman of the Council of State.
Prof. Anyidoho
In a welcome statement, Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, a member of the Awoonor family, who described the death as unexpected, said although Awoonor was dead, his legacy would never die.