Margaret Adzo Galinor (Mrs.): A Mepe-Centric Lady Worthy of Emulation and Celebration

“If there are any Mepe-centric ladies who focus tenaciously and productively on the divergent development of Mepe Traditional Area in the Volta Region and they do so passionately without expecting rewards, then Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor might be outstanding among them. She does not sit on the sidelines. Instead, she gets actively involved in communal development through her incessant roles within the Mepe Development Association and Mepe Ladies’ Club, methinks”- Philip Afeti Korto (2023).

Personally, I subscribe to the trite school of thought that the ideal time to acknowledge an outstanding person must be in his or her lifetime and not eulogizing posthumously. On the altar of lifetime recognition, therefore, I have decided to celebrate Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor who has been incessantly supportive to the developmental agenda of Mepe over so many years to date.

Parentage and Siblings

Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor, is the daughter and fourth born child of Ametsie Awuku Poso Todjo of Mepe Sevie and Aƒenɔ Agbierwona (Nanɛgah) of Gbanvie and Dzagbaku. Whereas Awuku Poso’s mother was Veveabor of Mafi-Seva, Nanɛgah was mothered by Mama Exleƒeɖo of Dzagbaku. Margaret Galinor was birthed on Monday, April 27, 1959.

Apart from Margaret Galinor, Ametsie Awuku Poso and Nanɛgah begat seven (7) other children such as Korddzo, John Korsi, Korwu (Taana), Michael Korku, Rita Baby, Sampson Nyefo (ABJ) and David Korblah, all signing Poso.

Academic and Professional Pursuits as a Secretary

Margaret Galinor’s academic journey started at Mepe R.C. Primary School after which she had her Middle School Education at L.A. Middle School, Mepe where she sat for and passed the standard 7 (form 4) final examinations (dubbed hall). That school was nicknamed Blokogorme because the school boasted for a tree locally called Bloko. Blokogorme thus translates as under the Bloko tree. It is now called Mepe D.A. JHS.

While she was a pupil of Mepe R.C. Primary School, she was the Class Prefect from classes 4 to 5 and she climaxed it with the position of Girls Prefect in class 6. Margaret Galinor’s leadership qualities and roles did not quench at the primary school level because while in middle school, she held the Office Girl Post from forms 1 to 3 and eventually became Housewifery (Centre) Girls’ Prefect at Blokogorme just as she was the Girls’ Prefect in Mepe R.C. Primary School. Centre was a vocational training ground at Battor for the schoolgirls at the time to learn various vocations and housekeeping chores such as crocheting, sewing, hemming, cooking various meals, brewery, embroidery, tinned tomatoes making and many other crafts. Margaret excelled at Centre apart from being a very good netball player who played up to district level.

Arrowed: Young Netball player, Margaret Galinor

Having acquired basic education up to standard four (4), Maggie Galinor attended the erstwhile Social Advance Institute in Accra where she pursued a secretarial course and progressed through short courses to become a Private Secretary who worked in numerous private organizations until she became an employee of the Bank of Ghana where she worked until she retired compulsorily in April 2019. She worked at Bank of Ghana for 33 years and once served as Secretary to the erstwhile Governor, Dr. Johnson Asiamah. She served in various departments such as HR, Currency Management, Governor’s Departments and finally at the Finance Department. Initially, Maggie served as an employee of her alma mater (Social Advance Institute) where she worked as a secretary for three consecutive years (1980 to 1983).

Marital Life and Children
Mrs. Adzo Galinor’s love life is such that she has been married to Mr. James Kwao Galinor (a.k.a Orokotoo), the son of Ametsie Moses Ameziegbe from Gbanvie Afevieme and Afenor Awusivie Akude of Gbanvie Adivifeme. Orokotoo and Maggie Galinor begat three (3) children. Suffice it to say that she has been fruitfully married for the past 41 years and counting. Margaret Galinor is a devoted Catholic and she is a founding member of the Mepe R.C. Church Choir which has been in active existence for over fifty (50) years. She was baptized in the Catholic Church in 1970 and received her confirmation (Ŋusedodo) in the ensuing year, 1971.

Commitment to Mepe Development Association

In fact, Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor can be best described as a daughter of the Mepe Development Association (MDA) because she was born into the MDA, about four (4) years after the MDA was established in 1955. Maggie’s dad, Ametsie Awuku Poso was the Publicity Secretary of the first MDA Executive Committee which ran developmental and Afenorto Festival affairs of Mepe from 1955 to 1961. One may thus say with a significant margin of certainty that Ametsie Poso handed over the race of communal love and support for communal development to his daughter, Margaret Adzo Poso (Mrs. Galinor). If this is the case, then his daughter has not disappointed him in his grave because she has not only held the baton of that race firmly, but she has also done so with tenacity, generosity, love, loyalty and unity of purpose, yielding impactful and conspicuous results that many Mepe citizens are proud of. Currently, she is the Chief of Staff of the MDA Executive Committee led by Mr. Fabian Kojo Mawulenu.

According to the Afenorto Festival Brochure (2005: 11), Mrs. Margret Galinor started serving on the MDA Executive Committee in 1995 when she served on the C.K. Akaho Tay led MDA as Women Organizer, a position she held for over a decade.

Apart from Serving on the MDA Executive Committee for years, Margaret Galinor has served on numerous MDA sub-committees in various capacities. In fact, her remarkable contributions to Mepe especially through the MDA may compel a Geographer to simply and logically assert that “Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor is the MDA and the MDA is Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor”. It is thus not surprising that for some years now, she has been serving as the Chief of Staff of the Fabian Administration of the MDA. She is indeed, Awuku Poso’s parting gift to Mepe, a parting gift worthy of emulation especially for the girl child of Mepe. To date, Maggie Galinor is the longest serving member of the MDA Executive Committee. A proud and development-oriented daughter from the Sevie Clan with maternal consanguinity from Dzagbaku Dzizafeme/Afegame.

Leadership of Mepe Ladies’ Club and other Groups

According to Margaret Galinor, the late Mr. Etse Agbenyefia is the sole founder of Mepe Ladies’ Club (herein referred to as Ladies’ Club). Etse Agbenyefia who was the Secretary of the MDA Executive Committee from 1987 to 1991 mooted the idea of forming the Ladies’ Club. He proposed this idea to some few Mepe ladies who visited him in his house at Mepe. Margaret Galinor was not part of those ladies Mr. Agbenyefia sold the ideas to, but she said Etse Agbenyefia’s concern at the time was that the MDA needed Mepe ladies who could support in hosting guests invited to the Afenorto Festival in terms of serving them food.

Accordingly, Mepe Ladies’ Club was established in 1992 with the chief purpose of serving and building Mepe in diverse ways. Suffice it to say that Ladies’ Club has been in active existence for 31 years. Surprisingly, Margaret Galinor who is the first Chairperson of the Club has been the only Chairperson for the 31-year journey so far. Her continuous chairpersonship of this all-female group for over three (3) decades is NOT because she is undemocratic and holding onto power but because in numerous times that attempts were made to elect a new chairperson, her colleagues felt the need to retain her in that position even against her will.

Apart from Mepe Ladies’ Club, Margaret Galinor was equally a member of the defunct C5 Group of Mepe. She was also the Member-Secretary of the erstwhile Mepe-Accra Catholic Union.

Impetus
Margaret Galinor’s motivation to contribute meaningfully, significantly, generously and incessantly to the development of Mepe is that her hometown is dear to her heart. This gives her the impetus to perform such communal roles passionately and selflessly just as her father did in the 1950s. She opined that Madam Elizabeth Abla Fosu (daughter of Ametsie Klivor Fosu) motivated her by deeds. Abla used to eloquently introduce the Chairman of the Mepe Afenorto Festival Grand Durbar in the 1970s.

Margaret Galinor’s Counsel for the Mepe Girl Child

She believes that God made women to be independent hence the girl child must not depend on a boy through a premature sexual relationship to advance in life. As such, her favorite Christian son is Dodzi, Dodzi xɔsetɔ. Dzidula zuge nele (Be patient, you believer. You shall victorious). She thus advises the girl child of Mepe Traditional Area to be focused and self-sustained. Maggie also takes pride in the traditional ensembles of Mepe especially Dudeenyawu, a defunct Mepe ensemble of the Sevie Clan.

Conclusion
A person who celebrates himself or herself is often seen as boastful or self-aggrandizing. It is a trite belief that people who contribute meaningfully for the ultimate benefit of humanity must be recognized in their lifetimes rather than honoring them posthumously. This does not however prevent us from honoring the dead who we did not have the opportunity to salute in public when they were alive. Accordingly, I had previously recognized the lives of certain outstanding figures of Mepe and beyond who passed on to eternity. I will continue to recognize Mepe citizens and others who excelled in diverse ways until such a time that my writing capacity eludes me, or I am no more on earth.

It is in the light of the foregoing that I choose to documentarily recognize Mrs. Margaret Adzo Galinor this year. She is a very illustrious daughter of Mepe worthy of celebrating in her lifetime. Margaret Adzo Galinor, Ayeekoo. ~Asante Sana~

Author: Philip Afeti Korto
Hospital Administrator
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