When Professor FO Kwami was appointed Vice Chancellor of the 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 rumor mongers whispered about the political appointment of a tribal member by the newly self-proclaimed Head of State, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, they would have had a hard time naming a better-qualified candidate. Still, his performance at the head 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. competition.

KNUST was best known internationally for its Technology Consulting Center (TCC): an independently funded organization that operated a broad 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 position of TCC’s first director in 1972, and upon 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 which attracted the Government of Ghana and international donors and resulted in the TCC retaining its independent status. It was unfortunate that this personal problem put a stain on Frank Kwami’s tenure as Vice Chancellor.

Frank Kwami presided over KNUST affairs during a period of exceptional political and economic turbulence 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 injured 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 college students, but during his second arrival in 1982/83 he lost popularity by closing colleges and sending students home to help feed the nation working on the farms. Food was scarce and academics were queuing for a chance to buy some ‘essentials’ items.

Frank Kwami’s tenure as Vice-Chancellor may not have been distinguished by any significant expansion of the university’s range of capabilities, but at this time preserving the institution was a worthwhile achievement. Upon retiring 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 one hundred small engineering firms, mainly in Kumasi, Accra and Tema, but also in Tamale, Takoradi and Sunyani. The objective was to identify technical weaknesses that could be strengthened with short training courses held at KNUST during university vacations. Frank Kwami became the director of a series of two-week residential courses for selected owners and technicians of the engineering companies included in the survey. Courses covered topics such as interpreting and working from engineering drawings, computer-aided drafting, and foundry-based manufacturing.

Grassroots 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 greatly appreciated his ability to present complex issues in clear, simple terms they could understand. What impressed them 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 the grassroots industrial development of Ghana.