Essein, Solomon Benjamin (1892–1970)
By Kojo Polley-Kwofie
Kojo Polley-Kwofie, M.B.A. (Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Ghana, Africa), is an author, associate treasurer of South-West Ghana Conference, and member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana. He worked at the Ghana Education Service for 12 years before joining pastoral ministry. He has worked as a district pastor in South Ghana Conference and Mid-South Ghana Conference and as treasurer of Pioneer Ghana Conference. He is married and has five children.
First Published: February 20, 2022
Early Life
Solomon Benjamin Essien was born in 1892 in Kikam, Ghana. His father was Robert Asmah Essien, a brother of G. Crowsby Essien, both of whom were among the first fourteen converts of the Kikam SDA Church led by C. A. Ackah in 1903. The mother of Pastor Solomom B. Essien was Rebecca Essien, who also came from Kikam. Solomon was educated at the Kikam SDA School.1
At the age of 16, his father sent him to the Kikam SDA School. This school was established in 1908 by C. A. Ackah. Essien was among the 4th batch of students who were admitted into the school in 1908.
Evangelism
He began evangelism at Kikam in 1941 at a tender age due to the influence of his father. He was the first citizen of Nzemaland to become a minister in the Adventist Church. Later in life he was taught by Pastor John Kaipro Gabrah of Shama and Evangelist J. A. Bonney of Akwidai, both of whom were teachers at the Kikam SDA School.
In October 1941, when Pastor William H. Lewis paid a one week visit at Kikam, he remarked that “this young Essien has been in our school at Kikam. He is young and yet anxious to begin work. I would like to use him as assistant teacher at Kikam. He has been working already, assisting in the work without salary.” He was fully employed by the church in late 1941.2 He was paid £1.00 per month as an assistant teacher. Later, he was sent to Asaaman in the Ashanti Region as an evangelist.
Solomon met his wife when he was transferred to the Central Region. He married Rebecca Agyiriba Essien, a native of Fetteh, in 1920. It took Pastor and Mrs. Essien almost 20 years in marriage before giving birth to their first child. Solomon had three children, two sons and a daughter, namely: Samuel Nyamekye, Daniel Asmah, and Comfort Efua Nvida.
After Ordination
Solomon’s ordination in 1935 made him the second ordained Ghanaian minister in the Adventist Church in Ghana, but the first to be ordained on the soil of Ghana. His ordination followed that of his teacher Pastor John Kaipro Grabrah, whose ordination took place in Waterloo in Sierra Leone in 1921. They became the first two ordained ministers in the Adventist Church in Ghana in 1935. Solomon worked in various regions in Ghana such as Western, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central, the Northern Region, and others. He brought re-organization to the Central Region. He was the first district pastor for Agona Swedru while residing at Winneba. He worked in Agona Swedru from 1950 to 1955. It was during this time that the Church secured the land for the mission house at Agona Swedru from Mr. Doherty, a businessman residing at both Winneba and Swedru. Following the term of Pastor Essien, he handed over the district to Pastor James Awurade Miezah Arloo, who also happened to be his first cousin. Pastor Arloo supervised the building of the Mission. This mission house at Agona Swedru is now being used as the headquarters of the Pioneer Ghana Conference (PGC).3
Solomon fell sick and died on April 12, 1970, at the Axim Government Hospital and was buried in his hometown, Kikam. He will forever be remembered as the second ordained minister in Ghana; one who evangelized in all the Regions in Ghana, and the man behind the acquiring of the land for a mission house that is now the headquarters for Pioneer Ghana Conference at Agona Swedru.4
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