Former PNDC Secretary for Industries passes on
Professor Dr Francis Acquah, a former Professor at University of Cape Coast (UCC) School of Physical Science and Department of Chemistry, has died.
Prof Dr Acquah, 80, passed on at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, after a short illness.
A statement issued by Mr Kofi Yeboah-Agymang, Former Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Science and Technology, from 1984 to 1988, on behalf of the family, said: “His one-week celebration comes off on Saturday, January 15, 2022, at his residence at Pedu Estate, near the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.”
Prof. Acquah had served as the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) Secretary for the Ministry of Industries, Science and Technology from 1984 to 1989 and was credited for the establishment of the Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU), the Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology and Industrialisation Service (GRATIS), the National Board for Small Scale Enterprise (NBSSI), now the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA).
The rest are the Institution of the Ghana Industry and Technology Fair (INDUTECH), the Industrial Sector Adjustment Credit (ISAC) that led to the abolition of import License and the Introduction of Auction of the dollar by the Bank of Ghana.
He was also said to be instrumental in the changing of the Ghana Manufacturers Association to the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).
The statement said: “Prof. Dr. Acquah is also credited for the establishment of the Chemical Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.”
“He rose to become Head of Department, before being poached to become a Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Industries during the era of the Peoples National Party (PNP) led by Dr. Hilla Liman from 1979 to 1981,” it added.
Prof Acquah, was later in a reshuffle, appointed the Minister for Youth and Rural Development before the overthrow of the PNP on December 31, 1981, through a Coup d’état that brought Flt. Lt Jerry John Rawlings as the Chairman and leader of the erstwhile PNDC.
Source: GNA