COVID-19 kills Kufuor’s presidential staffer

Mike Adjei, a veteran journalist and author, died in a London hospital yesterday, April 7 2020, of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The former presidential staffer in the previous Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party government was already hospitalised for another illness, and contracted the coronavirus disease while undergoing treatment at the London hospital.

The United Kingdom has, as of April 8, recorded 61,474 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease, with 7,110 deaths. The global situation is 1,495,051 confirmed cases and 87,469 deaths, also as of April 8.

Ghana’s case

In Ghana’s case, one more person has been confirmed dead, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to six, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

Meanwhile, there has been an increase in the number of cases as 26 new cases have been confirmed, bringing the total to 313 confirmed cases, as of April 8.

The regional distribution of the cases, according to GHS are: “Greater Accra Region has most cases (274) followed by the Ashanti Region (25), Northern Region (10), Upper West Region (1), Eastern Region (1), Upper East Region (1) and Central Region (1).”

It adds that: “A total of 161 cases were reported from the routine surveillance, 37 from enhanced surveillance activities and those from travellers under mandatory quarantine in both Accra and Tamale are 115.

Mike Adjei

Among the books the late Mike Adjei will be remembered for is “Death and Pain: Rawlings’ Ghana: The Inside Story.” He also once worked as a columnist for “The Statesman”.

He was among the journalists jailed under the PNDC regime and forced into exile. The Preventive Custody Law, PNDC Law 4, was used to arrest and detain three journalists of the Free Press between 1982 and 1985. Mike Adjei, then a leading journalist of the Free Press, and Tommy Thompson, the managing editor, were arrested in 1983, reportedly, for criticising the government in the paper. They were both released in April 1984, without any charge.

In April 1986, the Free Press was forced to close down because the then regime found its editorials “unpatriotic.” At the same time, several employees of the newspaper were reportedly detained for being suspected of seditious activities. Among them was Kweku Baako Jnr, a journalist, who was released after four months in detention, and John Kuglenu, the editor, who was detained for five months.

Mr Adjei was the father of prolific author Abyna Ansah Adjei. He was also a regular commentator and writer on Ghanaian political affairs and a former features editor of the state owned Daily Graphic newspaper.