Kofi George Konuah

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Kofi George Konuah
CBE, GM
Chairman, Public Services Commission
In office
1963–1969
PresidentKwame Nkrumah
Preceded bySir Charles William Tachie-Menson
Personal details
Born19 August 1904
Kumasi, Ghana
Died6 June 1996(1996-06-06) (aged 91)
Accra, Ghana
NationalityGhana Ghanaian
ChildrenWilliam Godson Bruce-Konuah
Alma materFourah Bay College
University of London
ProfessionEducationist and Public Servant
Known forFounding member of the Accra Academy

Dr. Kofi George Konuah CBE, GM (19 August 1904 – 6 June 1996) was a Ghanaian educationist, public servant and elder statesman who served as Chairman of the Public Services Commission of Ghana from 1962 to 1969.[1][2]

Early life[]

Konuah was born on 19th August 1904 in Kumasi, Ashanti to parents of Ga-Adangbe ethnic origin. His father, Alexander Konuah, a Gold Coast civil servant, was an assistant treasurer in the colonial service.[3] Alex Konuah belonged to the Bruce family of British Jamestown,[4] and the Konuah family whose roots are in Elmina. His mother, Elizabeth Quao, also known as Naa Densua II was the Otublohum Manye (queenmother).[1]

He had his early education at the Government Boys' Schools at Cape Coast and Accra from 1910 to 1919 and proceeded to the Wesleyan Boys' School in Freetown, Sierra Leonne for his secondary education completing in 1925. During his final year in the school, he was made the head boy. He continued at Fourah Bay College and was a student at the college during Kwegyir Aggrey's visit when the college had its centenary celebration. Aggrey impressed upon Konuah the idea of taking up teaching as a career. He graduated from Fourah Bay College in 1928, with a BA degree from Durham University. In 1946, he was awarded a British Council Bursary to study for a Diploma in Education at the University of London.[1][5]

Public life[]

Konuah first taught at Christ Church Grammar School and for a brief while at Achimota School in 1930.[1] Not too soon long after this, Konuah together with three others decided to set up a private school to cater for the educational needs of children who showed some aptitude for learning but whose parents could not afford to send them to the existing schools of the day.[1][6] They were James Akwei Halm-Addo, Konuah's mate at the Wesleyan Boys School and Gottfried Narku Alema and SamueI Neils Awuletey who were colleagues of his at Fourah Bay College. In July 1931, they founded the Accra Academy in a property given out by Madam Ellen Buckle.[7] Konuah served as the first Principal of the Accra Academy.[8][9]

In 1948, he served as deputy to Nii Kwabena Bonne, then Osu Alata Mantse, on Nii Bonne's Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee, which was set up to demand a reduction in the prices of foreign goods in the country at the time.[10][11]

In 1950, he became a member of the Sir Leslie MacCarthy's Prisons Commission. In 1952, he served as a member of a Commission of Enquiry to study the health needs of the Gold Coast led by Sir. John Maude. He was the only African member of the four-man commission.[12][13] That same year, he resigned his post as Principal of Accra Academy to become the second African member of the Public Services Commission. He was made Chairman of the Board of Governors of Accra Academy from 1954 to 1967. In 1955, Konuah helped establish the Ghana International School which he served as Chairman of the school's board at a point in time. On the demise of Sir C.W Tachie Menson (the first African member of the Public Services Commission), Konuah became Chairman of the Public Services Commission in 1962. Konuah also served as Chairman of the Governing Council of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration from 1962 to 1969. He was also the first Chairman of the Ghana Mental Health Association. He served as the Chairman of the Society of friends of Lepers.[1][2]

In 1964, he was a member of a three-member presidential commission set up by Kwame Nkrumah to discharge presidential functions in Nkrumah's indisposal to act as president.[1]

After the 1966 overthrow of the Convention People's Party, he became a member of the political committee and the National Advisory Committee set-up by the National Liberation Council. He was Chairman of the Audit Service Board from 1969 and retired from the public service in 1974.[1][14]

Personal life and family[]

Konuah was a lifelong congregant of the Anglican Church. He married Janet Buccholz and together, they had nine (9) children. Notable among them was, Dr. William Godson Bruce-Konuah, a medical doctor and politician who served as a Minister in the Busia government.

Honours[]

He was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1956 and the Companion of the Order of the British Empire in 1960.[15][16] In 1963, the University of Ghana honoured him with an honorary doctorate. He was amongst the first three persons chosen to be given that honour by the university.[17] In 1968, the National Liberation Council awarded him the Grand Medal (Civil Division) of the Republic of Ghana.

Death and legacy[]

He died on 6 June 1996 and is buried in the forecourt of the administration of Accra Academy. Konuah is remembered for his exploits in providing an education for children who showed some aptitude but whose parents who could not afford to send their children to the existing schools of the day in his country, Ghana. He is also remembered as one of the initiators of the first privately founded school in Gold Coast and not only so but for the first time in the then Gold Coast a school had been founded without the help of any church group or denomination. The Konuah-Halm-Addo-Alema-Awuletey Lectures is held annually in joint honour of him.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Vieta, Kojo T. (1999). The Flagbearers of Ghana: Profiles of One Hundred Distinguished Ghanaians. Ena Publications. p. 76.
  2. ^ a b Chinebuah, Aidoohene Blay (2017). Ghana's Pride and Glory: Biography of Some Eminent Ghanaian Personalities and Sir Gordon Guggisberg. Graphic Communications. p. 218.
  3. ^ Michael R. Doortmont, The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities by Charles Francis Hutchison: A Collective Biography of Elite Society in the Gold Coast Colony, Brill, 2005, p. 274.
  4. ^ Simon Ontoyin (2021). Accra Aca Bleoo: The History of the Accra Academy from James Town to Bubiashie. Sub-Saharan Publishers. ASIN B09KS8FS2Z.
  5. ^ Gold Coast Year Book. Daily Graphic, 1956. 1956. p. 148.
  6. ^ "Accra Academy:Providing academic excellence". graphic.com.gh. 2016-03-12. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  7. ^ Sundby-Lebech, Frederik (2015-10-17). "Students advised to have self discovery attitude". graphic.com.gh. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  8. ^ Graham, C. K. (1971). The History of Education in Ghana from the Earliest Times to the Declaration of Independence. Frank Cass. p. 172.
  9. ^ McWilliam, Henry Ormiston Arthur; M. A. Kwamena-Poh (1975). The Development of Education in Ghana: an outline. Longman. p. 67.
  10. ^ "A 75th Anniversary Feature". Newtimesonline.com. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  11. ^ "Ghanaians boycott European goods, 1948". Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  12. ^ Therson Cofie, M. (15 July 1952). "Health report to be released this week". Daily Graphic. p. 1. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  13. ^ Ashitey, Gilford A. (1994). Disease control in Ghana (PDF). Ghana University Press, Accra. p. 12. ISBN 9964301960.
  14. ^ Report of the Public Service Commission for the period 1968 to December 1973. Ghana Publishing Corporation. 1974. p. 1.
  15. ^ "The London Gazette-Volume 2" (40787). 1956: 3124. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ "Gold Coast Gazette-Part 1". 1956: 683. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ^ Agbodeka, Francis (1998). A History of University of Ghana: Half a Century of Higher Education (1948-1998). Woeli Publishing Services. p. 323. ISBN 9964978561.
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