Mr Ibrahim Kwaku Gyasi, popularly known as I.K. Gyasi, a renowned Educationist, former headmaster of T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School in Kumasi and author of the BLUNTLY SPEAKING column in The Chronicle passed on to glory yesterday at his Atasemanso residence in Kumasi.
The prolific writer authored the BLUNTLY SPEAKING column of The Chronicle and was a regular columnist on weekly basis since July 1996 for 20 years, retiring from writing in July 2016 as the longest serving non-staff contributor of the paper.
He attributed his “unpleasant and regrettable” decision to stop writing after 50 years of writing to old age (80 years in 2016) and on health grounds having been diagnosed heart and hypertensive problems lately and in the face of increasing and unbearable pressure on him to meet deadlines, which pressure is worsened by his present state of health and “uncertain, unstable and erratic power supply (dumsor)”.
In 1997, the Ghana Journalists Association honoured Mr. I.K. Gyasi with a Citation, a Certificate and Honorary Membership of the association.
In 2023, The Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) honoured Mr I.K. Gyasi, alongside 17 media personalities and two institutions for their contributions to the growth of journalism in the region.
In the 50 continuous years since 1966 when he served as a non-professional contributor, he contributed articles and letters to THE GHANAIAN TIMES, THE PIONEER, THE SPECTATOR (a letter on English), THE GRAPHIC, THE ASHANTI INDEPENDENT (articles also culled and published in the sister paper, THE INDEPENDENT), THE MIRROR, THE GUIDANCE (a publication of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana) and THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE (now THE CHRONICLE).
He has also been associated with the electronic media for more than 17 years. In the late sixties, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) aired two of his commentaries and appeared on GTV and also interviewed by Metro TV and TV3.
His stint with the electronic medium, especially radio, started from 1999 when he served as a panelist on OTEC FM in Kumasi where management of the station asked him to handle VIEWPOINT as a Presenter of the English programme aired every Thursday.
He was also a panelist at Garden City Radio (GCR) in Kumasi, where again, management requested him to host the programme named PERISCOPE, which was aired on Fridays.
Mr. I.K. Gyasi was also a panelist at Kapital Radio, Spirit FM (once), Mercury, LUV FM, Hello FM, Ashh FM, Nhyira FM, FOX FM and Angel FM, all in Kumasi.
Outside the media industry, Mr. I.K. Gyasi served as a pioneer Trustee member of the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GETFund) as a representative of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).
From 1999 to 2016, Mr. I.K. Gyasi served as a Trustee member of the Otumfuo Education Fund for which he once also served in the capacity of Honorary Executive Secretary.
He is also a member of the Ashanti Region Advisory Committee of the Ghana National Media Commission.
Mr. I.K. Gyasi once served as a representative of the Director-General of the GES on the Board of Governors of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Senior High School and a member of the Board of Governors of both T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School in Kumasi and the T.I. Ahmadiyya Girls Senior High School at Asokore in the Ashanti region.
Between 1996 and 1998, he served variously as the Ashanti Regional Secretary, Regional Vice Chairman and Regional Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS).
He was the Editor/Board Member of The Educator, a publication by CHASS. He was the co-author of Objective English for ‘O’ Level students with Messrs I.B.K. Addo and Alexander Asamoah and has the credit of publishing “Ordinary Level English Literature Study Guide” with “A Textbook of English” as one of his unpublished works.
Mr. I.K. Gyasi was born at Adansi Brofoyedru in the Adansi North district in 1936 to Opanin Mohammed Kwaku Gyasi, popularly known as Opanin Maama Gyasi and Madam Hawa Akua Badu of Nsuta Ashanti. He attended the local Methodist school and pursued his Secondary education at the T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School from 1950 to 1955, after which he pursued his 2-Year Post-Secondary Teacher Training course at the then Kumasi College of Technology (now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi), completing in December 1957 before teaching at T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Kumasi in 1958.
He continued with his private studies (began at the KCT) for the University of London General Certificate Examination, Advanced Level.
On passing the GCE “A” Level in 1960, he got admitted to the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1962 where he also wrote for the Commonwealth Hall ECHO (Vandal City), which had a tradition of publishing the weekly student journal.
The veteran also served as Assistant Examiner and later Team Leader for West African Exams Council (WAEC) ‘O’ Level English language between 1966 and 1976.
Mr. Gyasi was the headmaster of T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School from 1990 to 1998. He had an extension of time with the consent of the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education to continue heading the school when he was due for retirement in 1996.
He worked at the Students Affairs section of the KNUST and served as Secretary to both the Academic Board and Executive Committee. In 1986 he was engaged as the English Tutor of the Ghana Institute of Languages in Kumasi rising to become the Head of School till 1990.
Mr. Gyasi is an Ahmadi Muslim and a widow survived by five children (two boys and three girls), all university graduates.
They are Mohammed Kwabena Gyasi (USA), Mariam Adwoa Agyeman Gyasi, Appeal Court Judge, Aisha Tiwaa Gyasi, a Tax expert with PKF firm, Ibrahim Kofi Gyasi (Canada) and Adwoa Afrakoma Gyasi (Mrs. Adwoa Obeng Baah) of MTN-Ghana in Kumasi.
Mr. Gyasi’s hobbies were reading and sports in general, with boxing and football as his favourites. The late legendary boxer, Mohammed Ali, was his idol.
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The post I.K. Gyasi – The Grammarian Passes On appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.
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