The Managing Director of GIHOC Distilleries Limited, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, has recalled an experience from his elementary school days when he was dismissed from school for over 3 months without the knowledge of his guardian.
He said that at the time, having been born into a rich background, he and his friends used to challenge themselves in a game to determine who had more money.
Speaking to Adubia TV, he said that in that game, what they did was to go about spending their monies in ways that proved their superiorities when it came to their ‘signs of wealth.’
“When I was in elementary school, with the influence of peer pressure I had friends and we were all from very good families so when we go to school, we challenged each other on who has more money that day. And, if you have the money, then just spend. So, we just buy anything and we’ll just walk and some of the students will just follow us… we used to challenge everyday.
“And then in the afternoon, we would sneak and go to the 12 O’clock movies. Eventually, I wasn’t going to class, but I would get up every morning, put on my school uniform, go to school, meet my friends and then we would leave and start the spending spree. Then I was dismissed… I was 9-years-old, I was dismissed but then my grandmother didn’t know that I was dismissed. I would get up and dress and go to school – the gang of five of us were dismissed and so for about 3 months, we were not going to school but my grandmother thought we were going to school because we’ll dress up, put on our uniforms and go and hang out…” he said.
Maxwell Kofi Jumah, who is also an in-law to the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, added that things however took a turn when a boy who also lived with his grandmother, moved out.
He recalled that although the boy was with them, he was treated better and because he was mischievous, the other boy could not report to his grandmother that he had been dismissed from the school until one of the teachers did later.
“There was one guy who was in the same school with us but from a very poor family, but was also living with my grandmother, and he was treated differently – his school uniforms would be all torn out and things like that and we would be treated very well… he was in my class but he was scared to tell my grandmother because I was very mischievous and he was scared of me. So, for 3 months, he would leave the house with me to go to school and then he would wait when school is over then I join him and we come home together. Then, one of the teachers adopted him so he had to leave us and the teacher knew that I had been dismissed, so the teacher saw that I was with him one morning and came to tell my grandmother.
“So, she went to the school and begged and because I was favoured, they took me back; I was lucky they took me back because my life would have been destroyed. I was also lucky that we did not experiment with drugs and stuffs like that because we were close to that,” he explained.
Watch the full interview below:
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