John Alex Hamah, a veteran Trade Unionist, Politician and Author, and father of the former deputy Communications Minister Victoria Hamah has died.
John Alex Hamah has passed on at the age of 84. Family sources say the sad incident occurred on June 11, 2021 at the Tema General Hospital after a short illness.
John Alex Hamah had been in Ghanaian public life for over six decades, a period during which he held various positions at different periods.
These include serving as;
Senior Industrial Relations Officer of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union - ICU Ghana;
The Accra Regional Secretary of Trades Union Congress, TUC, Ghana;
Accra Regional Secretary of the CPP;
Education Officer of the Young Pioneer’s Movement, the Youth Wing of the CPP;
Secretary-General of the Re-constituted Ghana National Youth Council;
Head of the Education and Training Department of the TUC; Rector of the Ghana Labour College;
Secretary-General of the African Democratic League led by Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka;
Editor-in-Chief of ‘Taxi Magazine’ of the Nigerian Taxi Drivers Union, catering for the Oil, Transport and Tourism industries;
Editor-in-Chief, ‘The Comet’.
Alex Hamah went into voluntary exile in 1972 and returned to Ghana to form and lead the Ghana Democratic Party (GDP).
On the 12th of January, 1974, a day which happened to be his 37th birthday, Alex Hamah was sentenced to death by firing squad by the National Redemption Council for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Military Regime. After serving five years in jail, he was released on the orders of General Akuffo, Chairman of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) in 1978 and later given free, absolute, and unconditional pardon by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council led by Flt.Lt. Rawlings in 1979.
John Alex Hamah authored three books: "Farewell Africa- Life and Death of Nkrumah"; "Too Young to Die – My Ordeal in Nsawam Condemned Cell"; and "Dynamics of African Tyranny – A Theory of the One-Party State".
John Alex Hamah was a recipient of two prestigious awards of the Trades Union Congress for his invaluable contribution towards the building of a free, strong and democratic Trade Union Movement in Ghana.
John Alex Hamah was born on the 12th of January, 1937 at Agona Abodom in the Central Region of Ghana.
He is survived by a wife and five children.
Family sources say funeral arrangements will be announced later.
