The Government of Ghana has expressed regret to the death of Professor
Kofi Awoonor, former Chairman of the Council of State, which occurred
on Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya. A statement signed by Mr Felix Kwakye
Ofosu, a Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations on Sunday
morning, said Prof. Awoonor died in Nairobi from injuries he sustained
during an attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall on Saturday morning,
which Somali militant group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for.
The statement said Ghana's High Commission in Kenya has confirmed Prof
Awoonor's untimely passing and indicated that his son, who also
sustained injuries in the attack, survived and is currently responding
to treatment. The Government has extended its condolences to Prof.
Awoonor's family and Ghanaians at large for this tragic loss. Profile
Kofi Awoonor (born 13 March 1935 in Wheta) is a Ghanaian poet and
author whose work combines the poetic traditions of his native Ewe
people and contemporary and religious symbolism to depict Africa
during decolonization. He started writing under the name George
Awoonor- Williams. While at the University of Ghana he wrote his first
poetry book, Rediscovery. Like the rest of his work, Rediscovery is
based on African oral poetry. In Ghana he managed the Ghana Film
Corporation and founded the Ghana Play House. He then studied
literature at the University of London, and while in England he wrote
several radio plays for the BBC. He spent the early 1970s in the
United States, studying and teaching at universities. While in the USA
he wrote This Earth, My Brother, and My Blood. Awoonor returned to
Ghana in 1975 as head of the English department at the University of
Cape Coast. Within months he was arrested for helping a soldier
accused of trying to overthrow the military government and was
imprisoned without trial. After ten months he was found guilty and
released. The house by the Sea is about his time in jail. After
imprisonment Awoonor became politically active and has written mostly
nonfiction. From 1990 to 1994 Awoonor was Ghana's Ambassador to the
United Nations where he headed the committee against apartheid.
