Roman Catholic Cardinal. Born to a pagan family right after the death of his immediate brother, Poreku Dery was thought to be his reincarnation. Accompanying an uncle of his to establish his many and varied fetishes for prominent people of the area, his main duty was to help him slay the animals and hens required for the establishment. Baptized in Jirapa in 1933, taking the name Peter, after undergoing studies in Wiagha and Antigonish, Canada, and Brussels, Belgium, he was ordained priest on February 11, 1951 at St. Theresa's church in Nandom. On March 16, 1960, Dery was appointed the first bishop of the diocese of Wa, Ghana, by Pope John XXIII, receiving his episcopal consecration on the following May 8 at the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica from the named Pontiff. Requesting permission from Rome to translate the ordinary of the mass into Dagare and have it sung in local melodies, accompanied by local musical instruments, permission was given and the bishop himself composed the first Dagare mass. Apostolic administrator of the diocese of Tamale, following the resignation of Msgr. Gabriel Champagne M. Afr., Dery was named his successor on November 18, 1974. Eventually named the see's first metropolitan archbishop of Tamale when it was elevated to that rank by the Holy See on May 30, 1977, he retired from office on March 26, 1994. Pope Benedict XVI created him cardinal deacon in his first consistory on March 24, 2006, with the deaconry of Sant'Elena fuori Porta Prenestina. Passing away on Thursday, March 6, 2008 in Tamale, on the occasion of Ghana's 51st independence day, his body was conveyed from the morgue to the Our Lady of the Annunciation metropolitan cathedral, Tamale, for reception and vigil mass at the Jubilee Park on Monday, March 31. Following the celebration of a requiem mass at the Tamale sports stadium on April 1, the Cardinal was interred inside the local metropolitan cathedral. A renowned a statesman, leader and pacesetter, who greatly contributed for the development of the Republic of Ghana, his cause for beatification has been since launched.