Nana Dacosta, a sound engineer and one of the adopted sons of Nana Ampadu, has said his father could have survived if the ambulance service had acted swiftly to their call.
In an interview with JoyNews, Nana Dacosta indicated that the ambulance service did not report early when the family notified the unit of the pending danger.
“It came late and they were aware they were coming for such a great man so they should have done everything to come on time. If they had come on time and we would have taken him (to the hospital) on time, maybe they could have sustained him,” a devastated Docasta said.
Another son whose name was not given said his father had been ill for the past eleven months. On September 28, 2021, he received a distress call at dawn about how his father’s condition had worsened and the need to rush him to a hospital. As urgent as it was, they sent the legend to the Achimota Hospital but the doctor on duty was asleep.
He noted that the reception they had was rather unfriendly hence, their decision to head to Legon Hospital.
“We did so at dawn, we tried as fast as possible and we went to Legon UGMC Hospital through to the Achimota Hospital which we couldn’t find any assistance anyway. When we went there, the doctor was asleep. We banged the door; he came and was rather asking us why we were banging the door… we found out that we couldn’t have any help there so we had to extend or journey to the Legon Hospital. The doctors tried to revive him; unfortunately, we lost our father”, the son said.
According to him, Nana Ampadu died at about 5.24 AM, Tuesday.
Born on March 31, 1945, Nana Ampadu gained prominence in 1967 following the release of a politically motivated song ‘Ebi Te Yie’ – to wit, some are comfortable. This was after the formation of the African Brothers Band in 1963.
He had over 800 songs. Nana Ampadu who was nicknamed ‘Adwontofo Nyinaa Hene’ translated as ‘The king of all musicians’ was known for a number of qualities, including but not limited to his captivating storytelling ability which punctuated his songs, stage performance and unique voice.
His death has left many shocked and has evoked tributes.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), Abraham Adjatey, has, for instance, described Nana Ampadu as the “steel of highlife genre”.
According to him, Nana Ampadu became an “enigma to the industry because people did not understand his level of creativity”. As a result, they accused the prolific writer and composer of using juju.
“Indeed, between 1964 and 1968, he wrote very good songs for some of the greats and we all grew up thinking they were music that the greats did.”
“You know what Kwame Ampadu did with MUSIGA, his involvement in collections management in this country was way back in 1982. He was part of the agitation and he helped set up the Copyright Society of Ghana. Kwame Ampadu and 99 others went to court and that has brought us this far. Kwame has paid his dues”, Agya Abraham remarked.