Senior Wiase Dee came to Form in 1985 as a resident of OT House. Wiase Dee had the
following words to say any time Seniors asked him for gari: "Oh Senior, ewiase ayeden oh, wonim se me maame ye
nurse. (Oh Senior, my mother is only a nurse in this tough world)."
Whenever Wiase Dee was asked to not scatter food in the d-hall, he would reply
"Oh Senior, ewiase ayeden oh, wonim se me maame ye
nurse." Wiase Dee used to take several balls of kenkey out of the d-hall and when confronted, he will make the same statement:
"Oh Senior, ewiase ayeden oh, wonim se me maame ye
nurse." Even when he came late for roll-call, Wiase had the same words for the House Prefect: "Oh Senior, ewiase ayeden oh, wonim se me maame ye
nurse."
And that is how he earned his nickname, Wiase Dee!
Mr. Opuni, former Furniture Prefect who returned to do his National Service at Prempeh teaching Form 2 Mathematics, was a man of very few words. Here's an example:
"Hey you, punishment, here, cutRass, go, weed, from here, to here."
Alec Wobil of Pearson was widely tipped to be SP in '90, but he did not have a strong O-Level Exam results. This could be attributed to the death of his
father during the O-Level Exams season. When the day came for the appointment of the Prefects, Alec was undergoing an interview by the Headmaster and his Staff
at the Staff Common Room. The Headmaster was leaning toward the choice of Alec as Senior Prefect when all of a sudden our famous Mathematics teacher - Opanin Kwadwo Kyere - got up and
shouted at the top of his voice, "Oh, nese awu, nadwene enyeh correct, mompeh nkonwahene bi mano."
(He has lost his father, and he's not on top of his faculties, just make him the King of Chairs!).
As a result, Alec Wobil was made the Furniture Prefect.
The following academic year, Gbagboo was buying kenkey at Bantama one Saturday night when his mates tried to set him up with the kenkey seller. The kenkey woman replied that "akwadaa we dieh osua." (this guy is too young for me). Gbagboo replied, pointing to his zipper, "me sua, nanso mensua wo asie ho." (I may be young, but I'm not young underneath).
On the Monday night before the PEACEFUL demo that ousted Atiemo, the student body devoted the night to
visiting masters' bungalows to sing Samammo to them, but unfortunately, one particular master Oboley, a French tutor
stood in front of his balcony and started abusing the students verbally, and as a
warning; a stone was thrown towards where he was standing. The stone was
deliberately aimed at the wall beside him to scare him off, but not to hurt
him. As soon as the stone hit the wall, he instantly broke the fastest running record
from his balcony into his room.
Benjamen Atuobi, a form 2 boy of Serwah House sneaked out of prep to go to get some books from the dorms around 8pm. Then a few minutes after he left, the Prefect Assistants (in coming Prefects)
saw Atuobi, with the swiftness of a hare, ran across the concave-shave corridor (from Serwah to Form2A, just around where the Prefects Board is). You should have seen it, the reverberations was an art Mozart would have loved to capture.
As he ran in a manner remniscent of Ben Johnson, he screamed out aloud. The whole block thought maybe he was being caned by the Headmaster, so we all came out to look. Others even thought he had been bitten by a snake. Since he kept running and screaming "Awurade ei, buei, me maame ei, Agya ei, me papa ei. Asem aba ooh," people thought perhaps he had just received some bad news from home and was mourning the death of a family member.
Atuobi came out telling the whole school he just saw an elephant dressed in white at the dinning hall. Yes, an elephant roaming in the dining hall with all the gates locked!
Infused with the tenacity remniscent of the glory days of Yaa Asantewaa, the Prefects Body marched straight to the D'Hall to fight that nicely dressed elephant.
No such elephant was found. Amazing! Investigations are ongoing even today. Physicists and architects have tried to figure out how an elephant could make its way into a closed Hall, all to no avail.
During a video show entertainment program on a Saturday night in 1989, the lights went off. Just as the whole Assembly Hall became dark, the incoming Entertainment Prefect,
Tee Pee (Tawiah Peprah) got up and screamed "Hey, somebody please turn the tape! Turn the tape!" The whole school burst into laughter. Probably he thought the tape had run out. Even if it did, video tapes, unlike audio
can not be flipped. They can only be rewound.
The story (or is it a rumour?) has it that Zacchaeus of Butler House, the shortest boy in the
school at that time, who measured 3ft 8inches, jumped 6ft 2inches over the Dinning Hall
gate at the Serwah entrance. He had apparently arrived late for supper and discovered
that both gates were locked.
There was a senior in Freeman House in the late 70s called Smallman who was
being called "ABOYIE." He did not like this and decided to report this to the Asst.
Headmaster, Mr.Asare-Kwaah, nicknamed "Alpha." The following conversation
ensued at the Asst. Headmaster's office:
SMALLMAN: Sir, I`m being called "Aboyie" and I don`t like it.
ALPHA: When students call me Alpha, Alpha, you join in the chorus. Now you are
here to report them? Come on "Aboyie" out of my office.
So Smallman with a long face walked out of Alpha`s office.
An experiment was carried out by Boftey of Freeman dorm 7 which proved that kenkey
could be eaten with cheese, if there is a shortage of stew at the Dining Hall. The research
was carried out by the Freeman Laboratory of Peculiar Research.
The school goalkeeper of the football team, Ericus of Pearson, conceeded six goals in a
match against Guggisberg Wonders, and ran out of the post to seek refuge at the school's
pantry. His reason being that he did so to avoid conceeding more goals.
There was a student in G'Berg who was called Seidu Innussa. He was a very handsome
guy and "Kruways" would not even descibe his level of affectation. He used to go to these
girls schools over the weekends for "mmoso." For some funny reason that no one can
really explain, this guy, Seidu Innussa would always give his name out to girls as " Innocent
Asiedu."
He got around with this name for a while until one day a girl from Kugiss came to
Prempeh on a Saturday to visit him. The girl mentioned the name Innocent Asiedu but
after waiting for almost two hours and nobody making the name out she decided to give a
description of him. Luckily, one guy was able to link the name to Seidu Innussa and asked
the girl if she was miss-pronuncing the name because there was only a Seidu Innussa.
It happened that Seidu had visited a friend at Ramseyer and was returning to G'Berg. The
guy talking to the girl shouted "Seidu" and my "man" Seidu turned towards the direction of
the sound. Spotting the girl from that spot, Seidu made a sign toward that direction
depicting that he would be back in a minute. Guess what? He never showed up so it
ended up that the girl became the "helping" Guy's visitor.
"Adwe-adwe", the illusionist, was once practicing for the inter-house athletics competition
on the school field. "Adwe-adwe", then a form-4 student, was running with form-1 and
form-2 students in a 200m race. Having lost all his "capa", he stopped about 50m. The
"house pro" too realizing "Adwe-adwe" was not being serious, asked him to stay in the
race till the end. Adwe replied, "Senior, I'm weightless!"
I had a very good friend from Butler called Kofi Koduah, aka Gbagbooo. Gbagboo, who
lived in Accra, had his own English. For instance, we will be heading to the D'Hall, and all
of a sudden, Gbagboo will say: "Charlie, my human anatomy is lacking its perpetual
control." When we ask him the meaning of that, he'll reply: "You Kumasi people can not
speak English. It means I'm hungry!" When Mr. Percy Welsing was teaching us Biology in
Form 3, Gbagboo will stand up and say: "May I demonstrate the obstacle which impedes
the progress of my embitration?" When the teacher asked him what in the hell that meant,
he'll reply: It means "May I ask a question." Another example: As a class prefect, anytime
I'll warn him for making unecessary noise at prep, he will tell me: "Don't expose the
element with incoherent speeches and hallucination." By this he meant "Don't talk
nonsense." When Gbagboo comes to class and Poroona (the guy with the biggest feet in
Prempeh history) is sitting on his seat, he will say to him: "In promulgation to my
articulation, through the sentimentality of my verbality, I shall analyse my habituation
through the monopoly of this place." This means "I beg to take my seat." Lastly, he once
told our literature madam, Mrs. Kyere: "In promulgating esturic cogitations or articulating
your superficial sentimentalities and amicable philosophical or physiological observation,
always be aware of platidinuous ponderosity." By this, he meant: "Don't use long words in
your speeches when giving a lecture."
One of the funniest sports-related stories is about a guy called "WANTED." Actually, he
was a remedial student at Prempeh. He was staying at Bantama. While we were preparing
for the Interco Amanfoo heard about this guy was a "great" 100 meters runner so the
sports master included him in the Prempeh squad. Traditionally, we used to have trials
before the final selection but this guy would come to the trials just lead all the runners and
then 60 meters through just stop with the excuse that there was no challenger. Well,
people were so convinced of his prowess in the 100 meters that he was seklected to
compete as a de-factor qualifier. Then he went to the stadium and the time came for the
100 meters. Amanfoo started shouting and chanting "wannnnnnted, wannnnted,wannnted."
The Sammamo reached fever heat and finally Mr. Arthur, the then sportsmaster for
Ashanti region announced that we keep quiet for the race to start. Wanted stepped on the
tracks and started warming up. I guess everyone at the stadium believed that the first
position was a foregone conclusion so people started talking about the other positions.
After, the introductions, Mr. Lawson came around to the staring line with his gun to start
the race. Oh, by the count of two Wanted just came off the blocks and dash like a Ben
Johnson. The race was re-started. All starters got off the blocks on time and as expected,
WANTED jumped to the lead. You can just imagine the sammamo that followed this early
lead. However the chanted of "wannnted,wannnted" started having a throat draggin sound
"wannnnnnnnnnnted" wannnnnnnnnnnnted" in response to the athletes slacking pace. 50
meters through Wanted was among the last pack and finished the race 5 meters behind the
last runner! The funny thing about this all is that to this date no one can tell where
WANTED went after the race. The school jersey and whatever vanished into thin air. By
the way does anyone knows where that Great Athlete is?
Wofa K of Aggrey House came to Prempeh Sixth Form from an Accra School in 1978.
Rumours quickly spread that Wofa K could clock the hundred 100 meters in 10.6 secs.
Since Aggrey House never perform well in Sports, the news was very refreshing to them.
Everybody expected Wofa K to make an impact. One thing led to the other and Wofa K.
practised late at night with a lantern or a torch light. The secrecy was so serious, no one
new how good Wofa K was but Aggrey House told everyone to wait until the
Inter-House Atletics. People surely saw Wofa K, he took an early lead for the first 10
yards and was quickly out-paced by the top contenders like Asway, and Sandy, etc.
Once he noticed that his chances of even making the 7th position was in doubt, he faked a
muscle pull and went to the side lines. It was shameful, the biggest joke on campus. You
had to see this ! It was very funny; this guy was 5'4" with such a presence on the tracks.
He faked it all for attention.
During an art class one afternoon, art master SOK asked the class to: "Draw a woman
and his wife." Having realized he has made a grammatical error, he quickly corrected
himself: "OH no! Draw what I just told you without the wooh.." (i.e., Cancel the w-o-)
In 1998, Walata of Guggisberg was once returning from town (after he had broken bounds about 3
hours earlier). As he approached the Administration block, he saw, to his surprise, the
Senior Housemaster, Mr. Laing, and The Headmaster, Mr. Sackey standing there. Bold
as he was, he walked right between the two men. The following conversation ensued:
Senior Housemaster: (To the Headmaster) Doesn't this young man look like a pig?
[Headmaster remains silent]
Walata: (From 10 feet away) Yes Sir, I'm a pork!
Sr. Housemaster: Why are you drunk?
Walata: Due to some circumstances!
Headmaster: .....beyond your control?
Walata: Oh yes, Sir, these circumstances are always beyond my control.
The next day there was a suspension notice on the bulletin board aimed at Walata.
Prempeh - the College of Milk & Honey - is, a fortiori, a College of great hilarity! During one Entertainment time in the 70s, there was a boxing match (the first of its kind)
between a guy named Opwae Gege and Poncho. Opwae was in Guggisberg and Poncho
from Pearson. There was no good entertainment program that weekend and these two gentlemen decided to entertain the school with a "friendly" fight in the ring at the famous Osae Assembly Hall. They agreed to a friendly show with no animosity but when the fight began
it all changed. With the Pearson boys cheering him on, Poncho wanted to get more fancy.
He started sticking up to Opwae, and within seconds it turned into a serious boxing
encounter. You see, Opwae grew up in Accra so he had a lot of boxing skills, while
Poncho was from Kumasi. Guess what happened: Poncho was demolished. He could not
come out during the day. He was the laughing stock on campus. Amazing!
For failing to bring ASEMPA hymn books to morning service one day, all Forms 4 and 5
boys were ordered by "Okonko," the Head of Music at the school (He got his name from
the character in Chinua Achebe's "Things fall Apart") to report to the Assembly Hall after
siesta for a compulsory singing practice. During the singing, the then School Caplain
"Brave Joe" (1987-1990) was present. Watching from afar, he became annoyed that
"Wacee Joe" of Ramseyer was fast asleep. Brave Joe asked the whole congregation: "All
those who want to go to heaven, please rise." Every one got up except the snoring Wacee
Joe. After whispering, "Be seated" the priest shouted at the top of his voice, "All those
who want to be with the devil, please stand." Awakening with a start, the sleepy head
jumped to his feet and saw the Chaplain standing tall and angry. "Well, Sir," said Wacee
Joe to Brave Joe. "I don't know what we are voting on, but it looks like you and I are the
only ones for it."
During a Form 1 English lesson, Long John Silver of Serwah House (the same guy who
claimed he saw an elephant wearing a bow-tie in the dining hall one prep time), was asked
by Mrs. Sosu-Kumassah, whether the word "trousers" was singular or plural. John Silver
thought about it for a moment and replied "Its singular at the top and plural at the bottom."
Guggisberg's own POROONA, the guy who is notoriously known for his abnormal foot
size (He wears size 27 American shoes, the biggest feet in Prempeh's history--as he sat in
class in Form 5A, his foot laid out of the window and faced Pearson House), went out
one summer seeking employment as a tro-tro driver. The man who wished to employ a
safe driver asked each applicant how near he could drive a car to the edge of a gutter.
Poroona: I FIT DRIVE CAR NEAR GUTTER FOR ONE FOOT.
"Oponponsuo," 1988 Pearson House scrubbing monitor, also an art student, went out to a
gallery in Adum and spent a bewildered hour looking over abstract and cubist works. He
was finally attracted by a painting consisting of a black dot on a background of white and
framed in brass. "How much does this cost?" he asked. "That's the light switch," he was
told.
"Adwe-Adwe" of O.T house once hired a taxi from Adoato to Campus. When he got out
of the taxi at the Osae Assembly Hall he asked the taxi driver how much he charges. "50
cedis," replied the cab driver. Adwe searched his pockets and found only 40 cedis and
said: "Here's 40, could you reverse for 10 cedis?" The taxi driver angrily drove him back
to Bekwai Rounabout and left him there.
This is also a true story about 2 guys from FREEMAN house, Seaman and Singapore
who went to KATANGA to study. "Hey Singa, are you sure you can stand me today,"
shouted Seaman who was the reigning "capa" champion. "Yeah, I think I will have a try,"
replied Singapore. In the classroom both boys studied till midnight when they all got tired.
So they decided to solve some equations on the blackboard to "release tension." After
solvingsome equations, Singapore got tired but he did not want Seaman to notice that. So
he still stood behind the board solving the questions till all of a sudden he fell to the
ground. He had collapsed! But Seaman did not know that Singa had fainted so he yelled,
"Ah what are you doing Singa? Don't you know that you are wasting time? We have
about ten more problems to solve and you know today is Friday so we will finish studying
on Monday morning. Now you are laying there thinking about this cheap one. How then
can you say that you can stand me? Get up and move on." But Singapore never got up
until Monday morning when the people came to take him to the school dispensary.
"Table to table" Ambassador, His Excellency Kwamina December was brutally assaulted
and mercilessly beaten up at his O.T. house dormitory. Kwamina collected "ADWETE"
(Fanti kenkey) from six different tables belonging to a number of students he claimed had
gone home. He was immediately rushed on by the said students after the last grace had
been said.
1990 Prempeh College Ambassador to St. Louis Girls' School, Okoe Debango of
BUTLER house was one day travelling from Prempeh to Louis as usual when he bought a
loaf of bread at the station. While the "Bookman" was charging the fares for the baggage,
he charged the paper bag in which the Okoe had his bread. Okoe became angry and ate
the bread. He then turned to the "Bookman" and said "Now charge my stomach."
Three boys from GUGGISBERG house who ran to town one evening were caught at the
school gate by AMOEBA NASH, the school's Chief Watchman. After a hectic struggle
the boys were overpowered and they gave their names as "Chemistry", "Physics", and
"Biology." Investigations were carried out by the Prefects Council, but they couldn't find
the real names of the individuals.
An attempt to steal a bowl of soup one supper time when the lights went off in October
1984 was foiled when all of a sudden the lights were switched back on. Ajamus of Form
1A (of AGGREY house) was caught with the bowl in his hand seven inches away from
the affected table: Freeman Table two.
In 1965, there was a "Red-Red" (fried plantain and beans) eating competition.
A Form 4 student from RAMSEYER house, who won the competition, consumed about 30
big slices of fried plantain and enough beans. The winner, nicknamed "BONKRO", later
collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he was admitted for a day.
Student life at Prempeh campus
was very engaging. Until 1962
when "homoing" in schools was
banned, "homos" in Prempeh
used to have placards with
inscriptions hung around their
necks for easy indentification.
One in the batch of the green
horns of September 1961 had a
very dehumanising inscription on
his placard which read:
"WOAHYIA ABOA," which
literary means "A BEAST IS
COMING." The moment this "human-turned beast" entered any place in the school - dining
hall, assembly hall and etc, there was a commotion as students started to run away from him.
There was an expatriate Housemaster of PEARSON who was nicknamed "PONKO
ABODAM" (CRAZY HORSE)! The story has it that Mr. Anderson, a Scottish, one day
bought a coffin. He then informed his Ghanaian tutor friend that he had bought a fine African
furniture. The friend then went to see the furniture, only to find the Housemaster relaxedly
lying in a coffin. It was unbelievable! A living being resting in a coffin? This man from then on
spent most of his free time in the coffin. According to Mr. Attrams (who served Prempeh for 30 years),
Mr. Anderson spent most of his time lying in the coffin. He will read and eat in the coffin. He will return from class and, without even taking off his shoes,
will go straight into his coffin with his front gate wide open. Students often stopped by to see Ponko Abodam lying in his coffin.
Ironically, he was the only expatriate teacher to die
on Prempeh campus. He was placed in one of his favourite coffins and shipped back to Scotland.
That a gravesite exist at the back of Pearson House is only a myth. The only person who died purchased his own coffin for him to be shipped effectively to Scotland!
