Tag: headboy

The Headboy who Punished the Whole Student Body

The late Ghanaian theologian, Kwame Bediako, was an amazing person, and a total force of nature. When he left the shores of Ghana in 1969 to go do his doctorate in existential literature at the University of Bordeaux in France, he was an avowed atheist.

However, in August 1970, he had a “Saul-Paul moment” in the shower, converted to Christianity, and went on to become one of the most influential theologians the African continent has produced. Over the next decades, until his death in 2008, his work “sought to reposition Africa — its languages, cultures, and religious heritage — as a legitimate and rich source of Christian theological reflection, rather than merely a recipient of Western missionary Christianity”. It is said that what Luther and Calvin are for evangelical Christians globally, Kwame Bediako is for many African evangelicals. He also founded and led the Akrofi-Christaller Institute.

Years before all that, he was an Mfantsipim boy. The Old Boys who shared his story describe him as a brilliant student, with a rebellious streak, absolutely fearless, and the consummate leader. It is said that the staff admired him greatly. Due to the much darker hue of his complexion, his nickname was “Joe Noir”.

In 1963-64 or so, he became the headboy. At that time, Mfantsipim had a renowned Math teacher, Mr. Snell. He was the author of the Maths book the school used. He was also elderly then.

One Sunday, Mr. Snell did the preaching during evening service, and during his sermon, the boys made some “unwelcome noise”, as Botwe boys are wont to do during evening service sometimes.

Kwame Bediako found that disrespectful to the venerable teacher and decided to punish the entire student body.

It has been a custom at Mfantsipim for as long as anyone can remember that the boys are allowed to go into Cape Coast town after morning inspection on Saturdays. The next Saturday after the evening service incident, Kwame assembled the whole student body at the academic site and kept them there all morning. No one got to go to town. And that was the punishment he meted out for their disrespecting Mr. Snell. And no one dared to disobey him! Not even the other prefects!

The lessons inherent in that story are many, and they all feed into the excellence that is preached and practiced on the hill. It is a story that teaches respect for authority and the elderly, as well as discipline, leadership, bravery, and conviction.

Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, the Leader

Some are born to lead, and Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe is one of them. Kodwo entered Mfantsipim in 1975 and graduated in 1982. Even then, his character, demeanor, smarts, and ability to relate to everyone made him stand out. It was no wonder he was named the 55th Headboy in 1981 when he was in 6th Form. Most of us who were in the school in those years remember him as one of the best Headboys of that era.

After Mfantsipim, he earned a BA in Economics and Finance from McGill University in Canada. Initially aiming to attend business school, the challenges many immigrant students face led him to reconsider his plans. The chance to study law at Duke University came up, and he seized it. In 1988, he graduated with a JD in Law from Duke.

For the next 10+ years, he worked in private practice, handling regulatory and commercial litigation. In 2002, he joined Duke Energy as a part of the legal department.
For those who don’t know, Duke Energy is one of the largest energy holding companies in the US. It supplies electricity to 8.6 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest and natural gas to 5 states. Its market cap is $96 billion.

Over the years, Kodwo will rise to become the Chief Legal Counsel, thus serving as the primary legal advisor to Duke Energy’s board of directors and senior management. Soon, his responsibilities went beyond the legal realm when he was asked in 2017 to run Duke Energy’s utility operations in South Carolina. After his stint in South Carolina, he was pulled back to Charlotte, NC, in 2019 to become the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary.
Then, this past July, he was named Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Duke Energy Carolinas and Head of the Natural Gas Business Unit.

Besides his work with Duke Energy, he sits on various boards, including the board of directors of Energy Insurance Mutual, Ltd., the board of visitors of Duke University Law School, and the President’s Advisory Board of Clemson University. Savoy Magazine named him one of the Most Influential Executives in Corporate America in 2024.

Talking to Kodwo, I was struck by his calm yet confident demeanor—a presence he carried even back then in school. He remarked how each stage in his life seemed to prepare him for the next. He reminisced about his time as Headboy at Mfantsipim and the leadership lessons he learnt from it. He mentioned how degrees in Economics and Finance really inform his work running a Utilities company.
He shared lessons he had learnt in leadership, including putting a premium on actionable advice and treating people well. Like he stated once in an interview, one of his favorite quotes is from Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, an epitome of excellence, is an illustrious son of Mfantsipim, a Botwe boy.