GHANAIAN COMMUNITY IN GERMANY LOSES A GREAT LEADER

It is with great personal sadness and much sorrow that I inform our readers that Ghanaians in Germany have lost a great leader. Dr. Bernard Rodger Tetteh Doku, the retired medical practitioner died on Saturday, 17th August 2019 whilst on a short visit to the United States of America.
Dr. Doku died at the age of 77 years, was one of the perfect elderly men I have come across. We have known each other over a decade, the relationship was that of a father and son. He was a man of high intellect, fair and peace loving. Dr. Doku hails from Ada-Foah in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, and attended Adisadel College in Cape Coast from 1958 to 1964. He worked as medical practioner, from 1980 till 2007 when he retired.

Until his untimely death was a board member of “Zentrum für Mission und Ökumene - Nordkirche weltweit“, a senior member of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Hamburg. He is also an advisory member of the Ghana Union in Hamburg. He was my special advisor, I have contacted him on several occasion for advice.

Nevertheless there was one advice I wasn’t able to heed to before he departed. “Desmond, I don’t like it, when you sit at the back at events, I don’t like it, and you don’t belong there!

Doc! As I usually called him was socially correct, always ready to encourage and empower others to be better than himself. He was one of the first people I contacted when I had the idea of writing a book on “The history of Ghanaians in Germany”.

Great men don’t die!...
He did not only motivate me to undertake such a project but was ready to contribute. 
An abstract from the interview with the late Dr. Doku.

Q: How would you compare the health sector in Hamburg and that of Accra?
Dr. Doku: You compare based on standards; Accra with Abidjan or Abuja in West Africa. Hamburg is on the level of European standards where the health sector is well planned and equipped with well-maintained machinery and highly trained personnel, who show concern and responsibility for each individual human life they care for. There is accountability for every life lost. My fervent prayer is that the health sector in Ghana is not totally reduced to the level of “prayer camps”, where there is no diagnosis on the death certificates, “because God gave and God has taken.”

Q: Have you ever helped your folks in Germany in any way?
Dr. Doku: Yes, I believe I have helped in many ways but I cannot judge whether my people in Germany appreciate it. But I know that even the contribution to a “dream project” such as this book, helps. Taking part in health symposiums in Hamburg to raise the awareness of my people about healthy living for prolonged life is very dear to my heart.

Unfortunately my learned friend and mentor will not live to read our book!...

He was married to Madam Esther Addo, the mother of Otto Addo who is currently a Talente-Trainer with Borussia Dortmund.

“Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console”

May his soul rest in peace!

Desmond John Beddy