The Woes of Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo Kantanka as Inventor

If Ghanaians woke up one day to hear that Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo has passed away, the feelings and sentiments would be mixed. Many will genuinely weep and express their condolences to the bereaved. Others will jubilate due to plain jealousy, while the government will shamefully shed crocodile tears and regret deeply for their unwillingness to support his dreams. Happily, the star of Africa, Apostle Dr. Safo is still alive creating and exhibiting what he knows best.

The Apostle is often described as a genius, innovative and the star of Africa. He founded KristoAsafo-Christ Reformed Church on 3rd February 1971. He only has basic education with no technical or university education. From very humble beginnings, he started his church in a suffocating single room. As a poor person, life was very cruel to him but he was determined to preach the word of God. As the Almighty God will have it, he climbed the ladder from poverty to not only wealth but fame. In the eyes of many Ghanaians and Africans, he is a famous icon. He began his early preaching in Ghana House, Accra and also in several parts of Kumasi. At a point he had a hard time to feed himself and his converts. This was a difficult challenge for the infant church.

To overcome the hardships, he began to plan and to put his skills and ingenuity into action. He began to produce a low quality soap which was generally bought by the poor. The soap was popularly known as "don't touch me," due to the slippery nature of the soap. When you attempt to hold the soap, it slips from your hand immediately, hence the nickname. It was the most affordable soap at that time and it was well patronized. The soap was sliced proportionally and the followers carried them on their heads for sale in Kumasi and its surrounding villages. This soap became popular during the difficult period of JJ Rawlings when essential commodities were scarce and the soap came in very handy to help many Ghanaians. Due to his leadership acumen, he applied division of labour among his followers. Each group was assigned roles to perform. Some went into farming, trading and fishing. Other groups went into the propagation of the Gospel.

He knew within himself and beforehand that he was a great man engulfed with wealth and technological know-how. When the time was due for him to launch his technological prowess, he leapfrogged traditional technological concepts and he is now on the verge of re-writing history. He is one man who cuts across all branches of technical and innovative professionalism. He began as a poor person but now he is the father of the poor. Apostle Dr. Safo and Kristo Asafo have donated cash and foodstuffs to various institutions including universities, orphanages, prisons, leprosarium, social welfare and hospitals. His concern for humanity and his mission of restoring Africa to its former glory is glaring.

However, indigenous inventors have continuously been frustrated and Apostle Dr. Safo is no exception. The Apostle has exhibited his technological prowess by producing brick-laying machines, televisions that open or shut by a mere clap or wave of the hand, robots, vehicles and many more. His greatest difficulty today is how to secure assembling plants. This is hampering his efforts of going into the commercial production of his inventions particularly vehicles. It is woeful that no support is coming from the rich in the society, engineers and researchers and particularly the government of Ghana. The technical officer of the engineering department of the Apostle's great Kosa company, Alfred Akutteh, expressed concern when he spoke at the 14th International Trade Fair in Accra, that Apostle Safo had made several unsuccessful moves to secure car manufacturing assembling plants from China and India to go into mass production of his vehicles.

There was always the fear among these Asian countries and the manufacturers of car assembling plants that Apostle Safo will destroy their markets if he should go into mass production of his vehicles. Several appeals had been made to the government to help Apostle Dr. Safo to secure assembling plants to commercialize his vehicle inventions. The government has woefully and consistently turned deaf ears to his demands. According to Mr. Akutteh the great KOSA Company has received numerous orders from individuals and companies both home and abroad to supply them with vehicles but the company is unable to meet these orders.

It is time the government came in to assist this Ghanaian genius because not only will the assembling plant create massive employment or make cars affordable but it will also put Ghana on the list of car producing countries. At the Trade fair were also an exhibition of Apostle Safo's electronic products including television appliances and tape recorders. Daniel Amankwah, the person in charge of the electronic department of Great Kosa Company, confirmed that he had received orders from people to supply them with televisions, but the company turned down the orders because they did not have enough manpower to produce them. At the moment these televisions are produced manually and it takes a long time to produce one television. The company must engage in research to improve upon their products.

His contribution to his country Ghana is immense. The Star of Africa and the Cradle of African Technology, Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo needs help to expand his production. We should not wait for his death before we begin to blame ourselves. Sadly enough, he has never received any support from the government or the international community. He is planning a walk, code-named, “Apostle Safo needs attention.” He is of the conviction that the walk will create sufficient awareness for the public who did not know about his exploits and inventions. This may enable him get funding to go into mass production.

Written by: Stephen Atta Owusu

Author: Dark Faces At Crossroad.

Email: Stephen.owusu@email.com