Ghana Loses Statesman

The death is reported of Alhaji Alhassan Bin Salih, a former member of the Council of State, in Wa, on Tuesday, after a short illness.

He was 86 and left behind 12 children and three wives.

Alhaji Bin Salih was buried on Tuesday evening following Islamic rituals and performances.

Many people in the Upper West Region have invariably described him “as a library for information regarding Ghana’s Politics and Civil Service.”

He was the first Northern Ghanaian to be promoted to the position of Principal Secretary, now Chief Director, and he served at the Ministries of Finance and Food and Agriculture as Chief Director before he retired from the Ghana Civil Service in 1983.

The late Bin Salih, considered as a man of many parts, was appointed a member of the Council of State from 2001 to 2008.

He received one of the highest National Awards, Companion of the Order of the Volta, (Civil Division) for dedicated service and patriotism.

According to his biography, Alhaji Bin Salih was a pioneer and foundation member of the Northern People’s Party in 1954, and Secretary of Northern People’s Party in North West, (the present day Upper West Region), which included Simon Diedong Dombo, Kpegla Adama, Jatoe Kaleo, Abayefaa Karbo and Mumuni Dimbie.

Alhaji Bin Salih was also Secretary of the United Party in the North West and a member of the Progress Party in 1969.

In 1979, when the Popular Front Party (PFP) was formed, Alhaji Bin Salih was a member of the All People’s Party when the PFP and UNC allied.

He introduced the Danquah –Busia Club into the Upper West Region and made Mallam Abdulai Issahak his representative, while he worked in Accra.

Alhaji Bin Salih, Alhaji B.K. Adama, Mr. T.K. Serbeh, Seidu Hamidu Bomi, Abdulai Issahak, and Madam Ansaarata Adama became founding members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from the Upper West Region.

Before his demise, Alhaji Bin Salih had been a member of the National Council of NPP from 1992 to date.

He was also the Chairman of former President John A. Kufuor’s Kitchen Cabinet to manage his electioneering campaign in 1998 until he was elected the President under the ticket of the NPP.

Alhaji Bin Salih regarded himself and Mr. C.K. Tedam as the library for information with regards to the formation of the Northern People’s Party all through to the New Patriotic Party.