Togbui V

Biography Of Togbui Nyaho Tamakloe V

Group Capt. Albert Kwao Tamakloe was born over seven decades ago at Anloga, in the Volta Region. He was the seventh out of the eleven male children of his father, the late Mr. Rudolph Mawuli Kobla Tamakloe, the first child of Mr. Walford Kuetuade, who also was one of the 37 male children of his father, Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe I, the founder of the Tamakloe Dynasty, as well as the Dufia of Whuti and Miafiaga of Anlo. His late mother, Madam Martha Klufi Manigah, was from the Dzevie clan of Anloga, whose members are the custodians of Togbi Nyigbla, the Great War Deity of the Anlos.

He attended Primary and Middle Schools of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church at Anloga from 1946 to 1954 and, on completion, entered the then Keta Day Secondary School in 1955 and obtained his ‘O’ Level Certificate in 1958. He gained admission to the then Kumasi College of Technology to pursue a course in Architecture but left in 1960 in response to a call by GOVERNMENT to young talented Ghanaians to join the newly established Ghana Air Force. Some of his contemporaries who also answered the call were the late O/Cdt. Sarkodie, the late AVM George Boakye and Wing Cdr. Peter Abroquah.Those who did not respond to the call and stayed to complete the course and became very successful Architects of our time include Mr. Francis Koshie Segbedzi, Mr. Patrick N.K. Tamakloe, Mr. James Gbewonyo, Mr. Addo Bekoe, Mr. Lawrence Ayim, the late Mr. John Able Nutsugah, and the late Mr. Wisdom Issidore Ametsime.

After a six- month basic military training at the Ghana Military Academy at Teshie, he proceeded to the Ghana Air Force Flying Training School at Takoradi, where he successfully graduated as a Military Pilot and was granted the President’s commission with the rank of Pilot Officer in 1962. He attended several courses including Royal Air Force Joint Command and Staff School at Tern Hill in the United Kingdom in 1968 and the Air Command and Staff College of the USAF Air University in Montgomery, Alabama, in the United States of America from 1975 to 1976 - which courses qualified him to be appointed to Mid- level and Senior positions both within and outside the Ghana Armed Forces.

While in active service, he held several Command and Staff appointments.

These are: a. Command Appointments

(i) Commanding Officer - No. 1 Squadron AFS, Takoradi

(ii) Commanding Officer - Flying Training School, AFS, Takoradi

(iii) Commanding Officer - Air Force Station, Takoradi

(iv) Commanding Officer - Air Force Station, Accra

(v) Commanding Officer - Air force Station, Tamale

(vi) Commandant - Military Academy and Training Schools, Teshie

b. Staff Appointments

(i) Staff Officer - Defence Staff Committee Secretariat, General Headquarters, MOD B/Camp, Accra

(ii) Air Secretary - Air force Headquarters, B/Camp, Accra

(iii) Deputy Director General - MOD (Logistics), B/Camp, Accra

In 1984, he was honourably released from the Ghana Armed Forces while at post as the Commandant, Military Academy and Training Schools and appointed a Research Officer at the National Monitoring Unit of the Office of the Head of State at the Castle, Osu.

In 1986, when the need arose for someone to take up the challenge to reactivate the Volta Regional Development Corporation (which was on the verge of collapse) and make it capable of performing its functional role as the development wing of the Volta Regional Co-coordinating Council, he was appointed to do so in the capacity as the Managing Director.

On assumption of office, he immediately put in place pragmatic measures to improve the deplorable state of the Corporation. Some of the measures he took included involvement in income generating activities such as buying and selling of all kinds of merchandise to generate funds. He also identified a number of projects for implementation in the Volta Region. To enable him solicit for funds for this purpose, he engaged the services of technical experts to conduct feasibility studies into these projects and submit reports to him. One of such experts whose services were invaluable and of benefit to him was Dr N.D. Sodzi of Ho. The measures he took yielded positive results as follows:

a) Sufficient funds were generated to enable the Corporation discharge most of its liabilities including statutory taxes, rent and workers’ salaries, which fell several months in arrears.

b) Financing Agreement was signed with IFU, a Danish Bank for developing countries for the establishment of a Stone Quarry at Adaklu Ahunda on joint-venture basis with the Danish Construction Company, Ove-Arkil. This was made possible through a collaborative effort between him and one Mr. Samuel Semanu Odoom, a Ghanaian resident in Denmark and through whose initiative the Group Capt. was able to travel to Denmark to append his signature to the deal.

c) The operational efficiency of the Aveyime Cattle Ranch, a subsidiary company of the Volta Regional Development Corporation, was so much improved that Management was able to:

i) Establish a potable water project under which water from the Volta River is drawn and treated for distribution to the Ranch and to the communities in and around the Aveyime Township.

ii) Construct a number of feeder roads in the catchment area of the Ranch and thus make movement of persons and goods very easy.

iii) Establish Cattle Treatment Centers and dams for the benefit of the ranch and local cattle farmers.

d) Moves were initiated for the establishment of the following projects:

i) An Irrigation, Fishing and Transportation project on and along the Volta Lake at Kpando Torkor.

ii) A Solar Salt Industry at Agorko near Denu.

iii) A Brick and Tile Factory in the Ho Municipality.

In addition to his functions as Managing Director, he also performed in the following capacities:

a. Chairman – Board of Directors, Aveyime Cattle Ranch Limited

b. Chairman – Board of Directors, Volta Arkil Quarries Ltd, a company which was established through his initiative to operate the Stone Quarry project at Adaklu Ahunda

c. Member – Board of Directors, Volta Regional Development Corporation

d. Member – Board of Directors, Tongu Cattle Ranch Ltd, a company in which the Corporation held shares.

e. Member – Promotional Committee under the auspices of the Regional Co-coordinating Council for the establishment of the following projects which were on the drawing board of the Volta Regional Development Corporation:

i) Fishing, Irrigation and Transportation project at Kpando Torkor

ii) Brick and Tile Factory in the Ho Municipality.

iii) Solar Salt Industry at Agorko near Denu

Following the divestiture of the Regional Development Corporations in the country around 1998, Group Capt. Tamakloe was re-assigned to the State Housing Company Ltd and appointed Managing Director. Here also he was able to take pragmatic, bold and imaginative decisions and took steps to improve the lot of the Company. Some of what he did were as follows:

a. Restructured the company from Regional to Zonal Enterprise thus reducing the number of Regional Directors from ten (10) to four (4) Zonal Directors.

b. Under the new structure, non performing Regional branches were coupled with the vibrant ones to constitute the various Zones. The objective was to reduce work force, remove waste, save cost and to ensure effective management of the company.

c. Resolved most of the protracted issues of legal action by persons who paid various sums of money for houses which were not delivered to them, to have these houses delivered at the original prices regardless of their going market prices.

d. Entered into amicable settlement with land owners who threatened to re-enter their lands which Government acquired for the Company because compensations due them were not paid.

e. Revised and rationalized the salary structure of the Company thereby bridging the gap between the income levels of the Senior Management and the Junior Staff.

f. Introduced Providence Fund to serve as Welfare Package for all categories of staff of the company.

g. Replaced Lawyers engaged on retainer basis with an in-house Lawyer to handle all pending and future cases against the company. This move resulted in such cases being handled expeditiously.

h. Negotiated with Interbeton B.V., a Dutch company for the establishment of housing estates throughout the country on joint-venture basis with funds to be sourced from the Dutch Government. A memorandum of understanding on this venture was signed under the auspices of Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources before he was relieved of his appointment in June 2001 by the Government in power on grounds of services no longer required.

On retirement from active public service at close to age 64yrs, Group Capt. Albert Kwao Tamakloe intended to lead a very quiet and peaceful life and devote his time to the activities of his Church and the various social and welfare associations he belongs to.

Some of these associations and welfare clubs are:

a. Anloga Union, Accra (New Town Sector)

b. Victoria Drumming Group, Anloga

c. The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, Ghana

d. Eastern District Lodge No. 5 and Eastern District Household of Ruth No. 5 Welfare Union

e. Welfare Club 5, Tema

f. Egbor Friendly Society, Accra

g. Christian Love their Neighbour Society, Accra Branch

h. Men’s Fellowship, Good Shepherd E.P. Church, Community 16 Lashibi.

i. Welfare Unions of Good Shephered and Nima E.P. Churches

j. Norviworwor Haborbor, Tema

k. Norvilorlor Haborbor, Accra

l. Tamakloe/Fiawoo and Related Families Union (Teshie – Nungua Branch)

m. Retired Commissioned Ghana Armed Forces Officers Club

n. Retired Commissioned Air Force Officers Association

However, following the death of his uncle Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe IV, he was nominated by the Kuetuade lineage of the Tamakloe family to succeed his uncle. Regrettably, due to a controversy which arose out of an action by family elders at Whuti, who had ritually identified and attempted to confine him during the funeral of the late Togbi - thereby circumventing the procedure established by the Committee responsible for nomination, election, and installation of a candidate - the entire process had to be put on hold till today, when issues have been happily and amicably resolved, to enable him lead the day’s installation.

Group Captain Albert Tamakloe is married with five children, (three boys and two girls) who are all on their own. He has six grandchildren, (four boys and two girls) as at date. His wife, Mrs. Maud Dorothy Tamakloe, is of a mixed tribe parentage. Her father, the late Mr. Francis Addo Kofi Ankrah, is a Ga from the Otublohum Royal Family of Accra, while the mother, the late Madam Mary Adzo Adzakpo, is an Ewe from Anloga. The wife is a catholic and worships at St. Anne Catholic Church at Teshie, while he is a Presbyterian and worships at Good Shepherd E.P. Church, Community 16, Lashibi, a church to which he transferred from the Nima E.P. Church about two years ago due to its proximity to his residence at Teshie-Nungua Estates.

His hobbies include watching films on TV, especially those on football, athletics, boxing, as well as Ghanaian and Nigerian films which are acted in Ewe and English, as he cannot speak any other language than these two. He also likes to drive himself around because he feels uncomfortable being driven by someone else, perhaps due to his exposure to flying as a pilot and lack of confidence in any other driver. It is his prayer that the entire family will rally solidly behind him to perform his role as chief - a role which he knows is a call, not only to serve his people, but also to ensure the socio-economic growth and vibrancy of Whuti Township, the Anlo State, and the Volta Region as a whole.