‘PRESEC FBI’ CRACKS TOUGH CASE

Dark, dense and ominous cumulonimbus clouds gathered over Presec that Fall term morning in 1979. It did not produce the usual associated thunderstorms but it did provide great comic relief that lasted over weeks. An Odadee feeling horny, abandoned his Presbyterian morality lessons, threw caution to the wind and had an amorous one night stand with a female relative of a tutor making her pregnant. The only thing this village girl remembered about this Odadee was that he was called Mensah; a name many believed was a ‘wrongstu’. [Presec term for wrong student name given to deceive]

To unravel the case and bring the culprit to book, the authorities decided to summon all Odadees from form four to upper sixwho had Mensah as part of their names for an identification parade to enable this girl point out her lover that night. The goal was to get the parents of the culprit to foot the bill for the termination of the pregnancy. There was an initial reluctance to include my SU (scripture union) brethren. (Imagine the shock and awe with this girl mistakenly pointing to any of our SU leaders at the time). But that reluctance gave way to cogent and persuasive arguments by other staff members that Man is fallible; that the Adamic nature of man very unpredictable and that Lust &Temptation are no respecter of persons!!!! So the affected Mensahs were hauled to the assembly hall. This charade however failed to bring out the suspect as the Odadees ‘kpemi’(squeezed their faces) in an uncompromising war mood. This lady failed to identify the mensah who slept with her and the over 100 Odadees were ‘acquitted and discharged’. The tutor reportedly took this relative back to the village after visiting the hospital to take care of things.

Not satisfied with letting the ‘matter die’, the ‘Presec FBI’ went to work. A combined crack team from Engmann and Akro Houses pored over surveillance tapes [Who told you there were no CCTVs on the compound those days?] People had big eyes that recorded all they saw even with sound bites!! After 48hrs, the team took a closer look at the school layout vis a vis the location of that tutor’s bungalow and eliminated Labone, Engmann, Akro and Riis houses. It was thus left with Kwansa and Clerk Houses. There was no DNA sample to work with but the team was not perturbed. Using old time tested detective work and working on the assumption that the mensah name given was a ‘wrongstu’, the team got an artist impression of the suspect based on the description given by the lady. Applying some facial imagining techniques and the fact that the suspect was absent from prep that fateful evening, the team cracked the case and finally had chief suspect XYZ [name withheld]from Kwansa House  as the one who sowed his royal odadee oats on this poor village lady. He was approached and confronted. There was no Perry Mason to defend him.  He sat on his bed and only smiled. Boys will always be boys.

By Eddie Cofie

Food Revolution

Undoubtedly, ‘mapkor’[Gari& beans] and Red Red[ Fried ripe plantain & beans] are the celebrated Presec meals of all time. Closely behind these meals in the mid 1970s was chicken groundnut soup with yams; a delicacy served on Sunday afternoons and a seemingly consolation meal for those of us who rarely received ‘homemade’ from visitors.

Something was definitely amiss that afternoon. The big portions of chicken in the soup to be served were initially greeted with excitement. But some fast thinking Odadees were not impressed with this sudden ‘charitable’ act of the school matron and shot down any idea of benevolence on the part of the matron. Excitement gave way to skepticism which in turn sparked and ignited a rumour: We were being served dead chicken that died on the school poultry farm as a result of bird flu. Within minutes, a rebellion was underway. The 1848 revolutions in Europe and those in the first half of the last century are well documented and need not be enumerated here.This rebellion however had far reaching ramifications considering the stature of the school and the spinning that went overdrive that the meat was not even chicken but ‘akpanga’[vulture]

Thunderous shouts of ‘Woyee Woyee Woyee Woyee Woyee Woyee’ accompanied by the banging of utensils with cutlery got to then headmaster Rev Mate Kojo aka Kojomate himself an Odadee just as he was about to take a nap. Rev Mate Kojo rushed to the dining hall to cool inflamed passions. He gave a good speech but Odadees had taken an entrenched mental stand and would not be convinced. Reluctantly [did I say reluctantly?], the food was eaten. Not even Rev Mate Kojo’s bringing in the senior in charge of the school farm [somebody help me with the name] later in the week to give further assurances helped matters. With indelible doubts on the minds of Odadees with respect to this meal, Rev Mate Kojo ordered the meal taken off the menu. Yam will go on and have sole companion kontomere [spinach.]

Eddiefico

Akro 76-83

Peprah Science Quiz Room Project

Below is a recap and some lessons learned from the recent successful Peprah NSMQ Room Project

The idea for the project was mooted by a few willing and able Odadee who affirmed and decided to recognize the peerless efforts of Mr Peprah(Chemistry teacher) to PRESEC.  After almost 4 decades of service, Mr Peprah has been responsible for the success of numerous doctors, engineers, scientist and others across the globe.  Additionally, Mr Peprah and his team are responsible for 5 winning teams at the National Science and Maths Quiz, which has cemented the reputation of PRESEC as one of the leading high schools in Ghana.

The team diligently raised over $7000 and worked with the school authorities to renovate, equip and furnish a classroom dedicated to the preparation of our boys to win future competitions.  We have availed pictures of the inauguration event on this forum

Further, we donated $1000 and $800 to Mr Peprah and Mr Afram respectively for their unstinting support and contribution to raising the profile of PRESEC through the NSMQ competitions.  Other activities planned by this team of Odadee heroes include the organization of a Science Quiz competition (between PRESEC and other leading peer high schools), to commemorate PRESEC's 75th anniversary later this year.  We will provide event details shortly

We hope other Odadee groups will emulate our example and give back to our dear Alma Mater.  See Project Lessons Learned below, furnished by Odadee Edwin Amonoo - Project Leader

--- A well defined objective and achievable goal.
--- A group of friends who agree with the objective.
--- Willingness of all parties to support the effort. Help from Nana / Sam / Tim / Kwame/ Ato helped push this through. But keep the larger group informed regularly.
--- Support from senior odadees was very critical. They have the know how and provide very helpful guidance.
--- Set up of control structures to ensure accountability.
--- Provide transparency.
--- Be flexible. You may need work arounds to overcome the inevitable setbacks.
--- Ensure you have enough funds and financial buffers before embarking on the project.
--- Have well defined dates and target deliverables.
--- Willingness for a few people to take on the unpopular task of monitoring and pushing forward the project.

Sam Addo - 1976

PRESEC - First Days on the Legon campus - 1968

2^nd October 1968. 

Finally the day had arrived, the long awaited move to a new campus after 30 years in Krobo Odumasi. It was a Wednesday, which traditionally was not the preferred day of the week on which schools reopened. But this was not any ordinary school reopening. This was the biggie. The big one. EK Datsa was the head honcho. Mr Appeadu (??? Spelling) was the vice head honcho. I must say the significance of the day failed to adequately grab me as I was more consumed by my own achievement so can’t really remember much other than some form four guys who wanted to bully me but later spared me for reasons then unclear to me.

The total number of students in Presec was approximately 360. Each class had only A&B streams. There were not enough students to occupy the five houses. We occupied houses 1-4. House 5 was vacant. The following year when the form 1’s were a lot more (about 140) we moved we spread out and house 5 came into play. 

Form 1 students were approximately 72  but no more than 75 of which approximately or at least 50% would have come from the Presbyterian boys boarding schools of Aburi  and 27 of us from Akropong and Osu Salem. Presec in those days was like a feeder school for those middle schools. So 2^nd turned into 3^rd and the term rolled on. Then came the first Saturday and then after every Saturday we went “trotting”. We had to “trot” to atomic barrier and back with the seniors wielding leather belts to ensure no slacking. Not sure if that is still done these days or not. As usual the first Saturday of every school year was set down for the initiation of form 1 students usually involving all those “humiliating” rituals which in the scheme of things was meant to be more fun than “put down”. The dining room was just like a pavilion. No walls. All on this forum not the gale-like winds that blow after 2 when we finish school. Now it seems funny but in those days it was not funny to see your food carried off the table by the strong winds at 2.30 when you were that hungry. So they had to put a wall around it. 
We had no dedicated library building. The library hadn’t been built then. The library was in one of those double rooms at the end of the classroom block. No playing fields. Had to play football on laterite encrusted grounds.

Yes every Saturday we did general cleaning.


Snakes. They were everywhere. This is no exaggeration. We would have killed at least one snake each and every day of the first term. I reckon no man had stepped foot on that land since Adam was a boy before the school was put there. Cobras curling and spitting at us. 20-foot pythons, vipers, you name it, they were all there. After studies at 9 when we skipped as we went back to our dormitories just to make sure you didn’t step too long on a snake, just in case. Eventually we all got somewhat blasé.

No gardens. The central quadrangle, all the flower beds around the dormitories, common room and amenities block we dug by hand to depth of at least 30cm. Filled all in with humus. We all had a quota of buckets of humus we had to carry. You had to weed first and scrap the topsoil off to fill the bucket. And that was when most often you came face to face with the snakes. We all got good at spotting the likely snake hideouts and treaded cautiously. This was done almost daily after school. Lots of work in those days.

The food. Well, I don’t think much has changed. The Sunday beans stew and rice was on the menu. Recently read this on the forum with a bit of a grin. Saturday morning makpo- beans and garri. Wednesday lunch red red. The gas oil. Not for students with superior taste buds. Anyway one of my mates liked it so much that he was named “chubby gas”. He could never get enough of the stuff. He drank the stuff like lolly water. Used to call shito “ferti”. Don’t know if they still do. Life was simple. We were not many. We knew each other. There was a lot of care from the masters. It was all positive in the first year.

So I hope I have given a bit of an insight into Presec 1968-1973. If any of my mates are on the forum please feel free to add your bit. After 45 years or so and a few too many bottles of wine I have lost most of my active brain cells.

Warmly

Kofi Adih

My First PRESEC Trotting Experience

It was the second of October 1976. As freshmen, we were scared to death as the event was over-hyped and likened to running the marathon. We were advised to sleep with our running gear on and to sprint out of bed when the bell rang at dawn for the commencement of the 5-mile keep fit exercise towards Kwabenya. The threats of roll call and punishment for those who failed to turn out created an atmosphere of nervousness and anxiety as evening wore on. There were exemptions for those with medical conditions but that process saw behind the scenes transactions of Gari, Milk, Tinapa, feti and Queen of the Coast sardines that made able bodied colleagues stay behind. My belief in fairness was shattered. 

The shrill whistles and bells woke us up and the Akro House contingent was led by Seniors Cheekyway and Oko Martey aka Ayomueller. With slogans like “ Shepeshepe wongbontong”, “Revolution Unabated”, “one, two, theley four” and “Kwabenya is too far, I don’t care”, we headed on the Madina road and then to the Atomic energy road. The villages of Haatso and Papao must have heard us at dawn with our singing and we may actually have disturbed not only their sleep but the serenity of their habitat.

It was tough and I stopped several times along the route only to resume when seniors with belts passed by. Slowly, we got to the bridge passing the residences of Ɔdadeɛs George Gorden and Senior Mamattah and then the Rabbit project, which was the unofficial finish line. The roll call was taken with the aid of flashlights or what we called ‘touchlights’[torchlight] those days and we responded  ‘plesent’ with the little energy left in us. There were no Nike or Reebok running shoes those days but my UNDERGREEN canvas passed the test.

Eddie Cofie

Akro 76-83

Labone v Clerk - grande Finale- Odadee91 Inter-house 2010

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO...

Congrats to the defending champs Labone house and to the continental Clerk house for reaching the Odadee91 Inter-house Soccer 2010 grande finale. Labone beat House 8 (3-1) with Clerk defeating Engmann (1-0) in the semi's. It sure will be a classic grande finale ! Date: thurs, 1 July 2010 (public holiday); VENUE: Presec pitch. WHAT A CLASSIC FINALE IN STORE !!! ..

Come join in all the fun on Presec's Fun Day and watch the Odadee 91 Inter-house El Grande finale, as Labone attempt to defend the title the won last year against continental Clerk.

Jama + music + Old mates + Friends of Presec + arguments + penalty shoot-out challenge between Odadee91 v Presec staff + medals presentation, etc, and more in store !

DON'T MISS OUT !

Semi-finals - Odadee91 Inter-house Football - Sat 5 June

The Semi-finals are on...

IS IT GOING TO BE the defending champs LABONE or honeymooners HOUSE 8 or continental CLERK or exciting ENGMANN ? ...It's semi-final day on Sat 5 June at Presec-Legon's pitch.. " O Come Along and join Us" on a fantastic day of tension-packed PRESECAN football at it's best amidst 'Jama', tension,arguments et al ! Soccer ......fever extraordinaire, as Housemasters,Housecaptains,Prefects,Table-heads,SODs,Pantry staff,SU reps,etc,etc hedge their bets on the likely finalists.. Odadee91 Inter-house Football 2010...."No Wahala, No Shake"... !!!....DON'T MISS OUT !!!