Tributes are being shared on social media to mourn and eulogies the late Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd), a former head of national security, who died on Saturday, November 20, at 85.
Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, in a Facebook message eulogised Captain Kojo Tsikata, saying, “Captain Kojo Tsikata – Africa’s Che Guevara has joined his ancestors with grace and full honours.”
He said when Capt. Tsikata received the highest national awards in Cuba, Algeria, South Africa, Angola and many other jurisdictions, they were affirmations of the special place he occupied globally in the hearts of many as an extraordinary freedom fighter.
“But for his legendary courage on the frontlines in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, apartheid may still not have been defeated in South Africa,” he wrote.
“… very few have “defended the dignity and nobility of the African people better than the mythical ‘gbagbladza’.
“Captain’s Ghanaian public office record is simply unmatched — greatly revered and held in the highest of esteem by friend and foe alike.”
Mr. Ablakwa said the international intelligence community would perpetually celebrate him for his masterly handling of the Soussoudis and Nobistor Affairs.
“There must have been many more glorious moments mere mortals like us wouldn’t know about,” he said.
“Rest well, mystery soldier.”
Dr. Tony Aidoo, a former ambassador and deputy minister in the National Democratic Congress administration, who also wrote in Facebook message said: “Heaven and Earth will pass away but the soul lives on. My condolences to the family, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Ghanaian people, may his soul find a resting place.”
Mr. Kambale Musavuli, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo and a National Spokesperson for the Friends of the Congo, in a message described Captain Tsikata as” one of Africa’s great sons”.
Mr. Musavuli said Capt. Tsikata went to Congo as part of Ghanaian contingent working to protect Patrice Lumumba in 1960 (with Ndeh Ntumazah of Cameroon).
Capt. Tsikata, he said, was a military adviser to the MPLA Forces in Angola training them, with Cubans, to bring defeat to the apartheid regime South African forces.
He said he also run one of the most important security operations by an African state.
He stated: “His contribution to Africa’s liberation will never be forgotten!
“Africa will write its own history and we will tell the story of glory where, through Pan-Africanism, we united from North to South to defeat colonialism and apartheid! ”
“My condolences to his family and all who knew him.”
Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, a former Chairman of the National Media Commission, wrote: “Of course, Kojo T was not a head of state; he had to operate in the dark but he was probably more powerful than Jerry at a point.
“But he almost left nothing on the record. Almost. Most likely, nothing.
I interacted with him a bit in the 1970s and more regularly when I was acting editor of the Daily Graphic for a couple of months in 1984. I can’t say that he gave much away.”
Captain Tsikata was Head of National Security in the Provisional National Defence Council regime from 1982 to the National Democratic Congress era in 1995, under Jerry John Rawlings.
He was a member of the Council of State and a captain of the Ghana Army.
In 1995, he was asked to join a negotiating team with Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who was the then Deputy Foreign Minister.
He was appointed by Gaddafi to a Senior Advisory position in charge of the Al Mathaba Central Committee, a support centre for the liberation movement and anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist organisations.
Captain Tsikata received one of Angola’s highest honours, known as Carlos Silva among Angolan fighters, for his role in the struggle for their national independence.
Captain Tsikata was a holder of the Solidarity Award and of the Order of “Carlos Manuel de Céspedes,” conferred on him by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.
