DR. EMMANUEL ANDOH-MENSAH, DIRECTOR OF CSIR-OPRI, RETIRES AFTER TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF SERVICE

EMMANUEL ANDOH-MENSAH, the outgoing Director of CSIR-Oil Palm Research Institute (CSIR-OPRI), bid farewell to Staff and Management of CSIR-OPRI and Ghana Sumatra Ltd as he retires from active service. At a farewell meeting organized on 25th March, 2024, the outgoing Director presented his farewell speech starting with a quote from a popular Nigerian Novelist and Poet, CHINUA ACHEBE, which says that, “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to redeem them from starving because they all have food in their houses. When we gather in the moonlight at the village ground, it is not because of the moon since every man can see the moon in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so”. He continued by saying that it was a pleasure having the opportunity to deliver a farewell message on the day of his retirement after 23 years of hard work and service to the CSIR Council. Dr. Andoh-Mensah revealed that becoming the Director of the CSIR-OPRI (the Great Institute), never ever crossed his mind when he was a staff. Therefore, when the mantle fell on him, he asked questions and was told, “You are the Most Senior Scientist in the Institute”. It was then; he realized he could not escape. Later, he began to think that this call to duty could be a mission from God. According to him, this thought also got him worried because in the Bible, people who were sent on mission by God, most often than not were persecuted by the very people that the mission was supposed to benefit.

Within this context, the outgoing Director was excited to state that “if I stand before you today with profound sense of success and achievement at the end of my tenure as the Institute Director, then I need to be grateful”. He was thankful to the almighty God for bringing him successfully to the end of his tenure as the Institute’s Director and for ushering him peacefully into his retirement. He expressed his gratitude to the entire staff of OPRI (both permanent and non-permanent) for their immense contributions to successes chalked during his regime. He thanked the Management of CSIR-OPRI and Ghana Sumatra for the mutual understanding and good relationship between the two organizations currently”. He also expressed his gratitude to the institute Divisional and Sectional Heads who had been wonderful lieutenants of his administration. He said his regime enjoyed the cooperation and support of the RSA, CAAG, SSA and TUC. He extended his appreciation to the Executives of these identifiable groups.

The outgoing Director drew attention to Institute`s vision of “becoming a centre of excellence in oil palm and coconut research and a major supplier of improved planting materials of oil palm and coconut and relevant technologies in the sub-region”. He said what his regime sought to do and was able to do successfully, was to demonstrate that the vision of the Institute is not a mirage but achievable and doable.

Talking about OPRI becoming one of the top CSIR-Institutes, the outgoing Director indicated that currently, OPRI is not doing badly at all among the CSIR Institutes. He explained that apart from the impressive manner in which CSIR-OPRI hosted the 277^th Directors’ Management Committee (DMC) meeting, the Institute has won the Council Chairman’s Trophy for Commercialization on two occasions in 2021 (2nd position) and in 2022 (3rd position). He mentioned that in 2023, the bar for award of the Council Chairman’s Trophy was raised, yet OPRI won the 2nd position when the results were announced.

The outgoing Director touched on the transportation problem that the Institute has been battling with for some time now. He sincerely sympathized with members of staff that go through transportation difficulties before coming to work. He said Management had not rested since the problem started. He narrated all the efforts Management was making to get the two buses back to the road.

He ended his speech by wishing Management and the entire staff peace and asked for God’s blessing and protection for them as they dedicate themselves to build the Institute. The identifiable groups (RSA, CAAG, SSA and TUC) and Ghana Sumatra wished the outgoing Director farewell.