Amon Kotei was born May 24th, 1915 in La in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.  He is the second son of Amon Tete, an entrepreneur and Madam Yemoteley Ama Odonkor, both parents are from La. 

 

Amon Kotei spent his earlier primary school years traveling with his grandfather David Kotei - a Presbyterian Catechist who was stationed at Dodowa and later moved to Apenkwa and Bisa.  Amon Kotei returned to La and completed middle school at La Presbyterian Boys Boarding School – commonly known as La Salem

 

Amon Kotei showed artistic skill during his elementary school years, so his father sent him to study art under Mr. Kofi Johnson – a well know artist at that time.  Mr Johnson realized Amon Kotei’s extraordinary talent and recommended him for a scholarship to Achimota College of Art.  He was unhappy about the limitations of the program as a gifted artist who wanted to explore all art form.  As a result, his scholarship was withdrawn from Achimota College of Art and he was happy to be free to express his skills without any limitation. 

 

Amon Kotei married Madam Sarah Addoley Addo of La in 1939.  The union was blessed with twelve children – 7 boys and 5 girls and father to his older brother Kotey’s four children.  As a husband, father and uncle, he was very fond of his wife and family; he was always available, inspiring, entertaining, disciplined and hard working.   He engages in constructive discussions with logical reasoning and shares words of wisdom with anyone; young or old.  Being referred to as a philosopher, one of his philosophies is that “God will work with you and not for you”;   as such you must diligently and honestly work very hard at all times to achieve your goals. His hobbies are playing the classical guitar and piano, song writing, teaching music, photography, storytelling, flower gardening. 

 

Amon Kotei enlisted in the Royal West African Frontier Force (the Army) during World War II in 1942 as a Cartographical Artist.  After 5years of service in the Army, he was honorably discharged with the rank of Corporal.  With his exceptional work in the Army, Amon Kotei was once again highly recommended and awarded with a scholarship for an advance study at the London School of Printing and Graphic Art in United Kingdom.  He completed the program with a City and Guilds of London Institute Certificate 2nd Class and return home to work at Gold Coast Government Printing in 1952.

 

As the independence from the British Colonial Government drew near; the need for a Coat of Arms with a distinctive local flavor for the new nation of Ghana arise. Once again, another high recommendation came from the British Colonial Government and Dr Kwame Nkrumah to “let Amon Kotei design it”. He was single handedly selected to design the Coat of Arms for Ghana which he did with pride and his design was accepted and approved by her Majesty Queen of England and Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

 

The Ghana Coat of Arms has been referred to as one of the best Coat of Arms in the world. Amon Kotei once described it as “very meaningful symbol to Ghana as a nation and artistically very sound with no weakness.”

 

Other Credits

• Designed numerous postage stamps

• Illustrated several government publications, Post and Telecommunication Directory

• Illustrated three books by Mr. Mickson, Who Killed Lucy, Now I Know, Woman is Poison

• Illustrated State Emblems of the Gold Coast, written by D. A. Sutherland first (1st) edition 1954, Second (2nd) edition 1956

• Designed the School crest for Labone Senior High School and NUNGUA Senior High School

 

Amon Kotei earned several national awards including the following:

• State Honor of Grand Medal (GM) – Civil Division / Coat of Arms Design Presented on Friday, 7th March 1997 by His Excellency Flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings – President of the Republic of Ghana.

• Living Legend Series - Presented in September 2003 by the National Theatre in Accra

 

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“He who dwells in the secret place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the almighty”

Psalms 91:1

 

On October 17th, 2011, Amon Kotei was peacefully called to glory at his residence in La. He was 96 years old.

 

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