When Professor FO Kwami was appointed Vice Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, in 1982, the School of Engineering lost the services of an exceptionally gifted engineering educator. Frank Kwami, a German-trained engineer and natural professor, was a natural choice for rapid promotion to full professor and then vice-chancellor. If the rumormongers murmured about the political appointment of a tribal member by the recently self-proclaimed Head of State, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, they would have found it difficult to name a more qualified candidate. Even so, his performance at the helm of the university was less memorable than that of his three distinguished predecessors, and suggested a slightly modified form of Professor Parkinson’s well-known law that capable people tend to rise to a lower level. competence.
KNUST was best known internationally for its Technology Consulting Center (TCC): an independently funded organization that operated an extensive program of grassroots industrial development projects. Vice-Chancellor Dr E Evans-Anfom had founded the TCC in 1972 and his successor, Dr E Bamfo-Kwakye had been instrumental in gaining funding support for the TCC’s Intermediate Technology Transfer Units (ITTU) at Suame Magazine in Kumasi and Tamale in the Northern Region.
Frank Kwami had run unsuccessfully for the post of TCC’s first director in 1972, and on becoming vice-chancellor a decade later, one of his first moves was to gain control of TCC and its foreign financial support. This led to four years of conflict that attracted the Ghanaian government and international donors and resulted in the TCC maintaining its independent status. It was unfortunate that this personal issue put a stain on Frank Kwami’s tenure as Vice Chancellor.
Frank Kwami presided over KNUST’s affairs during a period of exceptional political and economic turmoil which was reflected in life within the university. At that time there were frequent power outages and three days a week working, Catholic pastor KNUST was shot and wounded at a road barrier and teachers were called in early morning radio bulletins to inform the head of state in Accra. When Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings first took power in 1979, he was popular with university students, but during his second arrival in 1982/83 he lost popularity by closing the universities and sending students home to help feed the nation working on the farms. Food was in short supply and academics stood in long lines for a chance to buy a few ‘essential’ items.
Frank Kwami’s tenure as vice-chancellor may not have been marked by any significant expansion of the university’s range of capabilities, but at this time preserving the institution was a worthwhile achievement. Upon retirement from his senior position he returned to the School of Engineering as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Here, he not only resumed his usual teaching activity, but also participated in an innovative program that kept his memory alive in circles far from the university.
Beginning in 1994, Intermediate Technology Ghana (ITGhana) began a survey of about 100 small engineering firms, mainly in Kumasi, Accra and Tema, but also in Tamale, Takoradi and Sunyani. The aim was to identify technical weaknesses that could be strengthened with short training courses held at KNUST during the university holidays. Frank Kwami became the director of a series of two-week residential courses for selected owners and technicians of the engineering firms included in the survey. Courses covered topics such as interpreting and working from engineering drawings, computer-aided drafting, and foundry-based fabrication.
The base engineers warmly welcomed the opportunity to study at the university and receive instruction from eminent professors. Frank Kwami earned the enduring respect of these men and women who highly appreciated his ability to present complex issues in clear, simple terms they could understand. What impressed them the most was Frank Kwami’s willingness to bring his knowledge to his level and also his concern to apply this knowledge in the work of his companies. In this way, Frank Kwami shared with his illustrious predecessors a valuable record of assisting in Ghana’s grassroots industrial development.