Dads are someone you look up to, dads are someone to follow, dads are someone to admire, someone to be proud of and someone to brag about. They can also be someone to learn from, someone to respect, someone who listens, someone to talk to, someone to impress or sometimes rebel against, but most of all, dads are someone with whom to share everything this wonderful life has to offer.
Losing our father is one of the most difficult things we have gone through and as we stand here today, we realise how fortunate we were to have such an astute individual as a father. There are not words to express his influence in our life. It is through his example that we have learned to be the men we are today. He was not afraid to be different or have an independent view and this is something that gave us a lot of self-confidence and exposed us to different perspectives of life.
We have been blessed to have had Marlon as our dad and to say we only just loved him would be an understatement and to say we are going to miss him would surely be a greater understatement.
Daddy was a Guan from Akpafu Todzi and after finishing his studies and attending the University of Ghana he set his sights on moving to the UK to further his career in the mental health sector. He became a director of one of the biggest mental health organisations based in East London. Throughout his life he was very popular for his charisma, charm and for his never-ending selflessness. He was always helping people and teaching others was one of his biggest passions.
He was a politician who always fought for the development of others and especially Ghana. After building a successful career in the UK he then moved back to Ghana 6 years ago, where he set his sights on becoming a minister advocating for reforms in the educational system in Ghana especially free education for all children. Our dad has created a big hole in our family as he was the rock and life of the home.
We cannot begin to imagine not having Dad on the end of a phone or he not being there to give us advice and although we were distances apart, he was always there for us. Family, neighbours, colleagues, or friend and the amounts of people that have reached out showing their support and telling us things about what our dad had done for them truly warms our heart.
He was elected as the first DCE for the Guan district but sadly passed away after his first day at work. It is very unfortunate that he was unable to be of more service to his community after all his years of toil. But we are sure his dreams and wishes will always live on never be taken away.
Our dad was extremely hard working, compassionate and deserved more of the life that he lived. He taught us many, many things but the most important is he gave us the ability to know that if you really put your mind to something, anything is possible, and never to be afraid to give anything a go.
A quote from a song by Jimmy Cliff that he always used to sing;
I’ve got a hard road to travel and a rough rough way to go
Said it’s a hard road to travel and a rough rough way to go
But I can’t turn back, my heart is fixed
My mind’s made up, I’ll never stop
My faith will see, see me through
We will keep this in mind always dad, until we meet again.
