The Symbol

            HISTORICAL FIGURE- THE LATE MRS. THEODOSIA OKOH.

            Theodosia Salome Okoh born on the thirteenth of June, 1922 in Ghana, Effiduase was a statewoman, teacher, horticulturist, housewife and popular known as an artist for designing the National Flag. She designed the flag in the year 1957 when Ghana had her independence.

She was named by her father, Very Reverened Emmanuel Victor Asihene who was a moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and her mother, Dora Asihene as Theodosia Salome Abena Kumea Asihene. She had seven siblings of which she was the fourth amongst them. Both her parents hail from Anum in the Asuogyam District of the Eastern part of Ghana. Theodosia was from a large family with successful siblings.

She began her formal education at Ashanti Effiduse Primary school then continued to the Basel Girls Mission Middle, Senior and Teacher Training Schools in Agogo  and then to Achimota School. In Achimota, she underwent three years of training in Fine Art from there, she took up her teaching career at Kukurantumi. Like any other person will do, she practised to make her self perfect and from the encouragement she received  from the Department of Social welfare, through the production of teaching aids and motives for nursery She had the privilege of travelling with her father and her husband, the late Enoch Okoh whom until the 1966 coup was the secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Civic Services in Ghana and across the world.

Theodosia rose among many best artist and designers when in 1955, she was given the challenge to design a flag for the nation, Ghana. She was able to do this because, Philip Gbeho, the composer of the national anthem helped her in choosing the colors that would depict Africans. The colors they decided on was picked by so many African nations but with different variations. She submitted her design to the British when they needed a new flag to advertise Ghana’s independence which was adopted as the national flag. She explained in an interview that, she choose the three colors; red, gold and green because of the geographical location of Ghana. Ghana lies in the tropics and She is rich in vegetation. The richness of our lands influenced the gold color and the red signified the bloodshed by those who worked to attain the independence of the country. The five-pointed star in the middle of the flag connotes the African symbolism of emancipation and unity in their struggle against colonization The then and first president of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was the one who accepted and adopted it as the nation’s flag from the sixth of March, 1957.

The Ghana flag was designed and adopted in 1957 and was flown until 1962, and then reinstated in 1966. It consists of the Pan-African colors that are red, yellow, and green, in horizontal stripes, with a black five-pointed star in the centre of the gold stripe. The Ghanaian flag was the second African flag to have these features in terms of color after the flag of Ethiopia.

The black star was adopted from the flag of a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey, Black Star Line that operated from 1919 to 1922. It gave the Ghana national football team their nickname, the Black Stars, which is held high esteem in the world today. The flag was designed by Theodosia Okoh. The red represents the blood of those who died in the country's struggle for independence from the United Kingdom, the gold represents the mineral wealth of the country, the green symbolizes the country's rich forests and natural wealth, and the black star is the symbol of African emancipation.The flag's design influenced that of the flag of Guinea-Bissau in 1973.
Under terms of section 183 of Ghana's Merchant Shipping Act of 1963, the civil ensign is a red flag with the national flag in a black-fimbriated canton. In 2003, a new merchant shipping act was enacted, however, and this simply provides that "the National Flag of Ghana" is the proper national colours for Ghanaian ships. No mention is made of other flags or other possible flags.The naval ensign is a red St. George cross on white flag, with the national flag in canton.

The Ghana Air Force has its own ensign which incorporates the flag of Ghana. Civil aviation in Ghana is represented by the national civil air ensign. It is a standard light blue field with the Ghanaian flag in the canton. It is charged in the fly with either a red, yellow and green roundel (in the case of the military ensign) or black five-pointed star (in the case of the civil ensign). they have both been used since independence, and the subsequent founding of the Ghana Air Force in 1959.

The Ghanaian government flag, adopted in 1957, was flown until 1962. Similarly, when the country formed the Union of the States,the flag of the Union was modelled on Bolivia's flag, but with two black stars, representing the nations. In May 1959, a third star was added. Nowhere specified how the stars were arranged, and it was possible that they were arranged in a triangle, although the three-in-a-line formation (as shown here) is more likely.

In 1962, prior to the dissolution of the Union the following year, Ghana adopted a variant of the 1957 tricolour with white in the place of yellow, after the colours of the then president, Kwame Nkrumahs’s  ruling Convention Peoples Party [C.P.P}, and similar to the flag of Hungary. The original 1957 flag was reinstated in 1966 following Nkrumah's overthrow by a coup d’état.

In the 1960s, Head of Civil Services in Kwame Nkrumah’s regime, Enoch Kwabena Okoh got married to Theodosia and they had three children of which were two boys and a girl: E. Kwasi Okoh, Stanley Kwame Okoh and Theodosia Amma Jones-Quartey.

Theodosia loved and played hockey wo much that she had a very important and leading role in developing Hockey in Ghana such that she was nominated the first female chairperson of the Ghana Hockey Association and later became the president of Ghana Hockey Federation for over twenty years. During her regime that Ghana qualified for the first time to both the Hockey World Cup and the Olympic Games. She was also the junior first aid officer in the team. This was where she was given the name, ‘’ the Joan of Arc of Ghana Hockey’’. It was given to her by Ohene Gyan because she rose to the occasion to save Ghana Hockey when even men were faltering and vacillating about development of the game. This is the key reason why in 2004, the National Hockey Stadium was named after her. Mrs. Okoh fought so hard for the only hockey field at Electricity Corporation maintained and not to be replaced by any new building.

From thence, she became SWAG; Ghana Sports Writers Association’s patron for a long period of time.

In addition to honours bestowed on her, Mrs Okoh received a citation from the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and the National Sports Awards in 2004. Others are the Sports Writers’ Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards and an award from “Obaa Mbo’’, a TV Africa series. She will be greatly remembered for designing the national flag to replace the Union Jack after Ghana gained independence from Britain. Additionally, the Asuogyaman District Assembly in the Eastern Region has erected a bust in her honour at Anum, her hometown. Whenever Ghana’s flag goes high, Mrs Okoh’s name is mentioned.

Due to her hard work and dedication to national development, Mrs Okoh was awarded the Grand Medal (GM) by the nation. She also received a number of awards from some institutions in the country.

Later on, a decision was made to rename the hockey pitch to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of former President John Evans Atta Mills which attracted criticisms from many quarters. In her reaction to the name change, Mrs Okoh described the decision as very painful because it was done without any consultation with her. Intervened by President John Dramani Mahama, he then stepped in to stop there naming of the pitch since he felt she had done a great deal to the nation just as former President John Evans Atta Mills did.

She now lived quietly in Accra where she loves for people to come around to chat and possibly learn from her art, telling them about the awards she has received all adorning in her living room. On her eightieth birthday in 2002, she published her memories and later revised and updated it ten years after, thus on her ninetieth birthday, on the thirteenth of June, 2012. Mrs. Okoh, a renowned artist exhibited her work widely across the world. As an artist, she worked in so many mediums including watercolor, oil paint all in sketches and paintings. Moreover, she made collages from corn stalk and feathers some of which have been hanged in various homes and galleries around the world.

As part of her legacy, her grandson, Ian Jones-Quartey based on her to create a character Nanefua in the Cartoon Network animated show, Steven Universe.

She died on the nineteenth of April, 2015 at the Narh Bita Hospital in Tema after a short illness when she was in the ninety second year of her life on earth. According to a family source, she passed away at six in the morning. She was said to have been admitted to the Ridge Hospital about a month ago before she was transferred to the Narh Bita Hospital for further attention.Growing up in a typical religious and royal family, she decided to leave an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of people right from her childhood.

With all she did in developing the country, a direction came from President John Dramani Mahama that all flags should fall at half mast for three days which took its grounds on the twenty-first of April all in honor of her great works which benefitted the nation at large. The Minister of Communication, Edward Omane Boamah signed a statement specifying that it was in ‘’honor of this extraordinary Ghanaian’’ stating in his own words and further exclaimed that ‘’government acknowledges Mrs. Theodosia Okoh for her invaluable contributions to our nations building effort.

She was laid rest in Osu cemetery after a befitting state burial cermony. The great achievement she attained made her a prominent personality in Ghana and hence was laid in state at the forecourt of the statehouse at eight thirty o'clock in the morning where dignitaries from all walks of life came and paid their last respect to this honorable stateswoman from the current president to other officials working under him to other important personalities in and out of Ghana.

In all we all say ayekoo to the late Mrs. Theodosia Salome Abena Kumea Okoh for being a great stateswoman, horticulturist, housewife, mother, grandmother and most importantly what we recognize her for; the great artist she was blessing her country Ghana with one of her cherished work, the National Flag. Surely, she became the creator of our symbolic people.She shall be forever remembered for her great work in sports and artistry which she is already the role model of the upcoming ones. Her watch words were to do things in perfection in order to reap something good in future.