Tributes pour in for GRDA boss Richard Dombo: “He was selfless”

Tributes are pouring in for the chief executive officer of the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA), Richard Dombo, who passed away on Wednesday after a short illness.

Until his appointment as GRDA boss, Dombo served as the operations manager for Southwest Rail, one of the largest railway operators in the United Kingdom. He has played various roles in the rail sector since 1994.

Marlon Anipa, a former consultant with the Ministry of Railway Development, worked with him on various projects in the UK (both were executive members of the New Patriotic Party UK) and here in Ghana.

He told Asaaseradio.com that Dombo contributed tremendously to ongoing reforms in the railway sector.

Leadership qualities

“He brought a lot of experience from the UK to Ghana. He was chief of operations for the biggest privatised agency of the railway in the UK. He brought about 25 years of experience to Ghana and this is testament to the recent ongoing transformation in the railway sector,” he said.

Anipa added: “He showed a lot of leadership. He was hands-on and was very committed to his work. He had that kind of selflessness and drive to get Ghana’s railway transformed … including plans to have a bridge over the Volta.

“His contribution was enormous.”

Veronica Heming, the district chief executive officer of Bole Bamboi in the Savannah Region, also worked with him as an executive of the UK branch of the governing NPP. They first got to know each other many years ago at the University of Ghana.

She told Asaaseradio.com that her heart broke when she heard about the demise of the GRDA boss.

“I remember Richard. He used to make fun of his dad that he had eight wives and 36 children, and his mother was the seventh [and he her seventh child]. He was a very intelligent lawyer, very eloquent with the English language, a very confident man,” she said.

Heming added: “I called him recently. He was very low but he never told me that he was sick. The voice was down. The excitement that we usually had when we talked about his dad having eight wives, we didn’t talk about that.

“My heart is broken. I am shattered.”

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Richard Diedong Dombo, 56, was a lawyer who lived in the UK for many years before his appointment as chief executive officer of the Ghana Railway Development Authority.

He worked in the railway sector in the UK for 23 years and also contributed significantly to Ghanaian diasporan politics as an executive of the New Patriotic Party UK.

The late GRDA boss was a graduate of the University of Ghana (LLB).

He was a son of the late Chief Simon Diedong Dombo, one of the three founders of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition, which gave birth to the New Patriotic Party.

Fred Dzakpata

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