The Woman who designed Ghana's national flag

Pg 11. March 06/08

BY Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

A veteran Ghanaian artist, Mrs Theodosia Salome Okoh (nee Asihene), has stated that the current calls on aspirants of the various political parties contesting in the 2008 general election to consider choosing women as their running mates must be critically analysed.
She said apart from looking at the educational background of the names that are coming up, there was also the need to consider their zeal, enthusiasm and hard work.
Expressing these sentiments in an interview with the Daily Graphic as part of Ghana’s 51st Anniversary, Mrs Okoh, 85, who designed Ghana’s national flag, said women in the 1950s contributed their part by ensuring that they made their presence felt through hard work.
She mentioned one of such women as Justice Annie Jiaggie, the first female judge and founder of the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) in Ghana.
Recounting the contributions made by some women in the country’s independence struggle, Mrs Okoh said a number of women who were mainly working for the Convention People’s Party (CPP), one of the leading political parties at that time, dedicated all their time and efforts to the party’s cause and ensured that they achieved success in whatever they did.
She said although women were playing active roles in politics today, they were not making the needed impact since they work towards attaining different goals for their political parties.
To her, although most women of today were educated, they were not able to develop their full potential as their roles were greatly influenced by their male counterparts.
She said Dr Nkrumah initiated programmes that contributed to the liberation of women and today, women were appointed or elected to important governmental positions, the Judiciary and the security services.
Mrs Okoh said although there were now more qualified women for important positions in government and public services than in the past, there was the need to identify those who were ready to work, especially in the political arena.
She said just after independence, women who worked in political circles were more dedicated to their work than looking for financial benefits.
Inspired by the words in the patriotic song “Yen Ara Ye Asase Ne”, composed by the late Dr Ephraim Amu ”, she said she designed the Ghana flag, which had the colours red, gold and green with a black star in the middle of the gold.
With many medals to her credit for her role in Ghana’s independence struggle and sports, Mrs Okoh is also a good hockey player and is described as the “Joan of Arc” of Ghana hockey for her immense contribution to the development of the game.
As part of recognition for her services to the nation, in 1992 Mrs Okoh received the Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ECRAG) Mahogany Award in 1996 for designing the national flag.
She also received a Grand Medal from the state during the 40th Independence Day celebration of the country in 1997 and received the Art Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ACRAG) award for designing the national flag. In 2004 she received an award from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for her role in building a national hockey pitch.
Her fraternity with hockey started when she was at Achimota School where she learnt and played the game for three years. Luck shone on her when Dr Kwame Nkrumah in a bid to boost the game, designated a minister for it and made her an assistant to the minister.
She became the chairman of the national hockey team in 1961 and established the national hockey pitch in 1964. This has now been named after her and presently, she is the patron of the Sports Writers Association.
The then Chairman of Ghana Sports, the Late Ohene Djan, after watching a splendid performance of the national hockey team against Nigeria after she had revived it, named her the “Joan of Ark” of hockey.
According to records, she was the first woman to have acted as the coach of a team all- male hockey players to the world hockey game, where the team represented Africa at Malaysia in 1975 and although they did not win, they received a medal for fair game and her all-Black team was also the first to play against an all-White team in a friendly match at Spain to precede the world cup.
She was the Director of Ghana’s Junior Red Cross and a fund-raiser for the YWCA.
The first woman to become the president of the National Sports Association, Mrs Okoh, who is a specialist teacher, was also the first certified female teacher to teach in and around Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region. She was, therefore, referred to as “Teacher Awura” (lady teacher).
Born to a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Mr Emmanuel Victor Asihene, and Mrs Dora Asihene, Mrs Okoh a Presbyterian from Anum but born at Akyem Wenchi. She had her elementary education at Agogo and after Standard Four, she applied for an advertised specialised teachers course (Art work) at Achimota where she learnt her profession for three years.
Mrs Okoh got married in 1949 to her late husband, Mr Enoch Okoh, who was the Head of the Civil Service, and gave birth to her three children, Ernest, Stanley, and Theodosia.