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Of all of the Ghanaian engineers that I got here to know personally throughout my twenty six years in Ghana, the one who did most to advertise the event of the engineering business, and industries typically, was Dr Francis Acquah. A local of Cape Coast within the Central Area, Francis Acquah was a chemical engineer and had already risen to be Head of the Division of Chemical Engineering on the Kwame Nkrumah College of Science and Know-how (KNUST), Kumasi, once I first got here into contact with him in 1972. From the outset it was clear that Francis Acquah shared my curiosity in applicable expertise and grassroots industrial growth and we had been to work collectively on a number of necessary tasks over the following twenty years. It’s gratifying to document that this relationship, each private {and professional}, continued virtually with out interruption by way of three army coups and intervals of financial disaster, as Dr Acquah rose by way of the Industrial Analysis Institute (IRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Analysis (CSIR) to change into Deputy Minister and later Secretary of State for Industries, Science and Know-how.
As Director of the Know-how Consultancy Centre (TCC) of KNUST, it was my accountability to search out consultants from amongst the educational workers of the college to help shopper industrialists with their issues. In 1972 it appeared that every one the issues concerned chemistry or chemical engineering with purchasers asking for assist to make cleaning soap and paper glue, caustic soda and pesticides. Francis Acquah responded enthusiastically to those challenges and he and his colleagues helped with the design of small-scale processing vegetation to satisfy the wants of the pioneering purchasers and a whole bunch who adopted. It was the growing demand for small-scale vegetation to supply palm oil, cleaning soap and caustic soda, that stimulated a have to switch the manufacture to non-public sector workshops and led finally to the undertaking to ascertain Intermediate Know-how Switch Models (ITTU), a undertaking that Dr Acquah was destined to advertise on a nationwide scale.
First proposed in 1975, funding for ITTUs didn’t change into out there till 1979, when the Canadian Worldwide Improvement Company (CIDA) agreed to contribute to the funding of an ITTU in Suame Journal in Kumasi and america Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) agreed to assist an ITTU in Tamale within the Northern Area. The Suame ITTU moved forward shortly when the Authorities of Ghana bought an appropriate constructing already constructed within the coronary heart of the Journal.The ITTU turned operational in August 1980.
I can’t recall precisely when Francis Acquah left KNUST to hitch IRI however it was a turbulent interval in Ghana’s historical past. In July 1978, the administration of Normal Acheampong had been changed by that of Normal Akuffo who promised a common election and a return to democratic authorities. Earlier than this might occur, Normal Akuffo was swept away by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on 4 June 1979. Nonetheless, the elections had been held, and the administration of President Hilla Limann had taken workplace by the point of the formal opening of the Suame ITTU in January 1981. The federal government was represented by the Minister for Industries, Science and Know-how, Mr M P Ansah, supported by his two Deputy Ministers, considered one of whom was Dr Francis Acquah.
No matter hand Francis Acquah had in clearing the best way for the Suame ITTU, he now turned a significant pressure behind the event of the Tamale ITTU. It was a time of nice financial hardship with acute shortages of all constructing supplies. With no appropriate constructing to purchase in Tamale it was essential to embark on a brand new building. Progress was sluggish, however with out the assist of the Ministry it might have been inconceivable. Some progress was made, however all got here to a halt on 31 December 1981 when Rawlings executed his ‘second coming.’
Dr Hilla Limann and his Deputy President, Dr Joe DeGraft Johnson, had been positioned below home arrest and all of the members of their administration had been dismissed. Francis Acquah was universally thought to be a technocrat who had no political affiliation. He informed me that he was requested to remain on on the Ministry of Industries, Science and Know-how (MIST) however refused so long as ‘his president remained below home arrest.’ Nonetheless, when some three years later the previous President had regained his freedom, Dr Francis Acquah returned to MIST as Secretary of State.
The USAID assist for the Tamale ITTU was a part of the Improvement and Software of Intermediate Know-how (DAPIT) undertaking which additionally included assist for Francis Acquah’s outdated employer, IRI. With robust assist from MIST the undertaking moved ahead as quick as attainable. However Francis Acquah was not happy with two ITTUs, he wished one in every of Ghana’s ten areas. So he requested the TCC to attract up a plan for such a undertaking which later turned referred to as Ghana Regional Acceptable Know-how Industrial Service (GRATIS), the acronym implying that it offered a supply of free technical data, recommendation and coaching for small and casual sector enterprises.
Dr Francis Acquah presided over the opening of three ITTUs: Tamale in April 1988, Tema in June 1988 and his dwelling city, Cape Coast, in December 1988. He would have favored to remain on to complete his work however ailing well being led to his resignation in 1989. When match once more he returned to work at IRI and ended his distinguished profession as Director of the Nationwide Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI). We continued to satisfy often till I left Ghana in August 1997, and though our tasks had been on a smaller scale than previously, Francis Acquah by no means misplaced his enthusiasm for any thought that would advance the grassroots industrialisation of Ghana.
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Source by John Powell
