Celebrating The Man Julius Debrah 57 Years Of Grace, Competence And Talent.
As Moslems ended their Eidl-Fitr festivities last week with the accompanying public holiday on Monday April 24 2023, the Executive Director of the Alliance For Social Equity And Public Accountability (ASEPA) Mr Mensah Thompson took the opportunity to extend his special felicitations to the Moslems Community across the country.
The occasion April 24 also coincides with the 57th birthday of Mr. Julius Debrah, a illustrious, affable and efficient Ghanaian politician who have made great impact in the society. As Mr Debrah’s celebrations unfold, Mr Mensah Thompson writes:
Ladies and Gentlemen it is 24th April once again and as usual the relevance of this day cannot be lost on us today. Not just because we are still in the Eid festivities but also it’s remarkable incidence of the birthday of perhaps one of the most unsung political heroes this Country has ever seen, Julius Debrah.
Anyone who understands the politics of this Country and have encountered this man would be quick to admit that Julius Debrah is one of the most illustrious, diligent, competent and efficient politicians this Country has ever seen albeit unsung and the emphasis is mine!
Unsung not because the people do not know who he is and what his enormous impact in our public service is, but his extreme display of humility almost to a fault and perhaps his inate orientation that people in public service are to serve and not to blow their own trumpet and this makes him never attempt to exaggerate his importance or achievements because he believes there is always more work to be done.
Julius is about getting the job done irrespective of who gets the credit, he is efficiency and humility personified!
As usual this foremost tribute is never aimed at exaggerating the personality of Mr.Debrah, far from that, rather it is only fair and proper that those of us who have encountered him use the opportunity on this special day to highlight the exemplary traits of Mr.Debrah one of Ghana’s finest politicians in the fourth Republic, paying a well deserving tribute to his unfinished legacies whiles encouraging young politicians to emulate his exemplary leadership.
Mr.Debrah is a problem solver!
His problem solving skills has been unmatched throughout his public life. For instance when he was Minister for Local Government, he observed that the entire local governance architecture of this Country was hinged on scattered legislations.
A separate legislation for Common Fund Administration, a separate legislation for development planning, a separate legislation for the local government service and several other laws scattered around.
Even though he is not a lawyer, his ability to quickly identify the problem that the existence of these separate individual legislations created a lack of synergy in the administration of our local government structure led him to quickly assemble a team and also supervised the consolidation of all the individual local government legislations into what was passed in 2016 as the Local Government Act of Ghana(2016), Act 936.
The enormous efficiency this law has brought to the local governance administration of this Country can never be over-emphasized!
Again when he was at the Ghana Tourism Authority, he saw how much the Country spent every year to bring in paragliding pilots from abroad for the paragliding festivals, typical of Julius he quickly laid a foundation for a paragliding training school to be built to train locals as paragliding pilots who would then take over from the foreign pilots and reduce the pressure the importation of these pilots put on our little foreign exchange reserves.
He secured a land and laid all the technical and administrative foundation for the project until he was appointed a Minister and the project stalled.
Today we still spend our hard earned foreign exchange to import paragliding pilots every year during the Kwahu Easter paragliding festivals.
Julius is Innovative!!
There’s no State agency, Ministry or Office that Mr.Debrah has occupied that did not experience the touch of his dexterity and innovation however short lived.
As the local government minister he founded the National Sanitation Day Celebrations, an advocacy and public sensitization program that contributed enormously to keeping our Cities and villages clean. He understood the enormous impact a clean environment had on the larger economy.
The success of this program led to a serious reduction of pollution induced illnesses that had crowded the OPDs of major hospitals across the Country, an initiative that gained several environmental sustainability recognitions across the globe.
The Kwahu ooo Kwahu festivities that revolutsonarized the entire Easter celebrations in Kwahu areas is one of Mr.Debrah’s babies.
His innovation as the head of the Ghana Tourism Authority brought life to the celebrations, the commercialization of the Kwahu Easter celebrations created a number of commercial activities around the celebrations, creating jobs for people during the celebrations and opening up opportunities for businesses to take advantage of the tourism drive during the Easter festivities, this was an another clear indication of Mr.Debrah’s craftsmanship;create something out of nothing!!!
Other qualities of Mr.Debrah is his competencies and ability to get the job done!!
His fast rise from the head of the Ghana Tourism Authority in 2009 to a Chief of Staff, perhaps the youngest ever Chief of Staff of the Republic at just 49 years was by no means an accident.
Should I tell you about his tenure as the Chief of Staff, and how he revolutionized the office? Julius brought to the office unprecedented efficiency which seem to have disappeared upon his exit as evidenced by the number of scandals that rocked the current Presidency; one that was never witnessed under Julius Debrah as Chief of Staff.
Mr.Debrah’s Generosity is unparalleled, perhaps his most unsung quality, there only but a few people in this Country irrespective of political inclination or social status who have not experienced the benevolence of Mr.Debrah.
A true giver, who gives whole heartedly without recourse.
A true unifier who is never conflicted, loves everyone, quick to forgive those who offend him and treat everyone equally irrespective of their standing.
Brevity, a true listener, unassumingly clever and so tactful; perhaps one of many reasons why the Former President Mahama found in him a true friend and confidant!
His opened door policy makes him perhaps one of the most accessible high level politicians in this Country, always willing to give you an audience and help when he can and empathize when he cannot.
A true leader who is reliable, sociable, knowledgeable, brave and peaceful, one that sits in the heart of many; young or old, rich or poor, powerful or weak and all others.
It is 57 years of such graceful existence and we wish him many more years of bliss and abundance.
Happy Birthday Mr.Julius Debrah, we love you!!
