Veteran Journalist and Diplomat, Kabral Blay-Amihere has recounted past experiences and moral lessons during his days at St. Augustine College in Cape Coast, in the Central Region.

According to him, the journey to Cape Coast was a great experience for a young man from Sekye Bekwei.

“It was the first time I saw the sea. I had never seen the sea. I never sat in a train, so even the journey to Cape Coast was great.”

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express Personality Profile, Kabral Blay-Amihere said he nearly missed enrolling into the school.

“The values that the school taught us was to work hard at whatever you chose to do. It taught us to be humble, it taught us to even be patriotic,” he told host, Aisha Ibrahim.

“If you know the history of Ghana’s independence; the bulk of students who went onto the street to support Kwame Nkrumah were from Augustine,” he added.

According to the former National Media Commission boss, “three of the tutors who lost their job for supporting the 1948 riot were from St. Augustine, so the day you arrive there [in the school] you get this kind of injection of patriotism.”

He stressed that most of the people who have served Ghana well had their education from the institute“ and they can trace whatever service they gave to [the country] from that school by the beach..”

He said his mother, former High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, can not be excluded when his success story is being told.

“For some strange reason, my father who believed in education didn’t buy into me going to the secondary school so he was not paying the admission fees in those days.

“And my mother who was not literate or educated, I don’t think she appreciated what it was to gain admission to St. Augustine. I had to beg, plead, get a friend to go and talk to her and she was adamant; I don’t think she saw the big picture.”

Somehow, his mother had to travel for a funeral, and that brought the GRIDCo Chairman, an opportunity to re-ask for his fees.

“I told her that, well, this is my chance so give me the money …, so right at the station, she told me, go to my bedroom, there is something hiding somewhere, there is money inside, take the 10 pounds and go and pay your admission fee.”  

And that was how he eventually ended up in St. Augustine College where another life for him begun.