The story of Appropriate Technology in Ghana has been punctuated by military coups and it is of interest to see how these changes of regime affected the rate of progress and areas of emphasis. The overthrow of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first prime minister and president, on 24 February 1966, heralded the first military regime which ended in 1969 with the election of the government of Prime Minister Dr Kofi Busia. The focus changed from the Nkrumah policy of promoting big industries, and the trickle-down theory of economic development, to encouraging growth upwards from the grassroots in agriculture and small-scale rural industries. The new approach also embraced an interest in the urban grassroots with the commissioning of a survey of Ghana's largest informal industrial area, Suame Magazine in Kumasi. Dr Busia's survey proved to be seminal to the establishment of a serious and long-term programme to promote small-scale enterprise throughout the country.
The survey of Suame Magazine by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, in 1971 helped to encourage the establishment of the Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC) which opened its doors on 11 January 1972. Two days later, the government of Dr Busia was swept aside in a military coup that brought Colonel I K Acheampong to power. In its early days, this regime was filled with young and enthusiastic military officers. Within a few weeks of taking office the dynamic Major Agbo, Secretary for Industries, leapt from his MG sports car and bounded up the stairs to the TCC office to discover what his ministry could do to promote small-scale industrial development.
In those days there was an acute shortage of soap in Ghana and the TCC had organised a committee of experts on the university campus to work with a local group of soap makers to plan a pilot plant in the nearby village of Kwamo. The outcome of the Major's visit was an eventual grant of funds from the ministry that covered about one-third of the total cost of the pilot plant. The other two thirds were provided by Oxfam Quebec and KNUST. Soap makers trained at the pilot plant, and supplied with hardware from the TCC on-campus workshop, established about fifty small-scale soap making enterprises, making a substantial contribution to national supplies over the decade: 1975-85.
It was also during the Acheampong years that the TCC achieved much local publicity from establishing a small plant for an entrepreneur making paper glue from cassava starch. This plant in the nearby village of Ayigya, earned a government contract to replace all previously imported paper glue to an estimated annual value of $250,000; an achievement considered worthy of a visit from Colonel Acheampong himself! The Colonel, later General, had a second opportunity to observe the work of the TCC when it mounted an exhibition of the work of the university at the Second Ghana International Trade Fair in Accra in February 1976.
General Acheampong was removed in July 1978 by a colleague, General Akuffo, but people did not feel that any fundamental change had occurred. However, Akuffo did set in motion the planning of elections which took place the following year. Neither Acheampong nor Akuffo were able to cast their votes, however, as both had been executed by firing squad. Their demise was the outcome of a coup on 4 June 1979 that brought Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings to power. During his brief 'First Coming,' Rawlings presided over the elections planned under Akuffo, and by the end of the year an elected government led by President Dr Hilla Limann was in power.
The brief regimes of Akuffo and Rawlings had not impacted on the work of the TCC, although the political turmoil had at times disrupted the work of the university generally. However, the government of Dr Limann was to support two important developments. Firstly, it released funds to purchase the building in Suame Magazine to accommodate the first Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU). Secondly, the newly established Ministry of Industries, Science and Technology (MIST) negotiated a contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish the DAPIT Project, which included funding and technical support for the TCC's second ITTU in Tamale in the Northern Region. The two ITTUs were to achieve a significant impact on the development of small-scale industries in Ashanti and Northern Regions during the 1980s and 1990s.
The 'Second Coming' of Jerry Rawlings started with a coup on 31 December 1981. This time a political revolution was loudly proclaimed, in which the people were called upon to take over running the country from the managers and professionals who had previously controlled the civil service and major institutions. The TCC was celebrating its tenth anniversary on 11 January 1982, and in an interview on national television the director was asked if he supported the 'on-going revolutionary process.' Much to the relief of his staff and colleagues, the director replied that the TCC had always worked for a revolution in Ghana, which they called the Industrial Revolution.
After the release from house arrest of Dr Limann, the former Deputy Minister of MIST, Dr Francis Acquah, accepted the post of Secretary. Under Dr Acquah's leadership grassroots industrial development in Ghana was given a great boost. To celebrate the progress that was being made the first Ghana international fair of industry and technology, INDUTECH, was held in Accra in March 1986.
The first exhibition that Dr Acquah showed to Jerry Rawlings on the opening day was that of the TCC mounted on behalf of KNUST. The government agreed that the technology transfer programme, demonstrated in Kumasi and Tamale by the ITTUs, should be replicated in all ten regions of Ghana and the TCC was asked to draw up a plan. The GRATIS Project to put this plan into effect was approved in February 1987. By the time that Rawlings finally handed over power in 2000, all ten ITTUs had been established and were in operation. The seedling planted by Dr Kofi Busia had spread its canopy over the whole country.
The survey of Suame Magazine by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, in 1971 helped to encourage the establishment of the Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC) which opened its doors on 11 January 1972. Two days later, the government of Dr Busia was swept aside in a military coup that brought Colonel I K Acheampong to power. In its early days, this regime was filled with young and enthusiastic military officers. Within a few weeks of taking office the dynamic Major Agbo, Secretary for Industries, leapt from his MG sports car and bounded up the stairs to the TCC office to discover what his ministry could do to promote small-scale industrial development.
In those days there was an acute shortage of soap in Ghana and the TCC had organised a committee of experts on the university campus to work with a local group of soap makers to plan a pilot plant in the nearby village of Kwamo. The outcome of the Major's visit was an eventual grant of funds from the ministry that covered about one-third of the total cost of the pilot plant. The other two thirds were provided by Oxfam Quebec and KNUST. Soap makers trained at the pilot plant, and supplied with hardware from the TCC on-campus workshop, established about fifty small-scale soap making enterprises, making a substantial contribution to national supplies over the decade: 1975-85.
It was also during the Acheampong years that the TCC achieved much local publicity from establishing a small plant for an entrepreneur making paper glue from cassava starch. This plant in the nearby village of Ayigya, earned a government contract to replace all previously imported paper glue to an estimated annual value of $250,000; an achievement considered worthy of a visit from Colonel Acheampong himself! The Colonel, later General, had a second opportunity to observe the work of the TCC when it mounted an exhibition of the work of the university at the Second Ghana International Trade Fair in Accra in February 1976.
General Acheampong was removed in July 1978 by a colleague, General Akuffo, but people did not feel that any fundamental change had occurred. However, Akuffo did set in motion the planning of elections which took place the following year. Neither Acheampong nor Akuffo were able to cast their votes, however, as both had been executed by firing squad. Their demise was the outcome of a coup on 4 June 1979 that brought Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings to power. During his brief 'First Coming,' Rawlings presided over the elections planned under Akuffo, and by the end of the year an elected government led by President Dr Hilla Limann was in power.
The brief regimes of Akuffo and Rawlings had not impacted on the work of the TCC, although the political turmoil had at times disrupted the work of the university generally. However, the government of Dr Limann was to support two important developments. Firstly, it released funds to purchase the building in Suame Magazine to accommodate the first Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU). Secondly, the newly established Ministry of Industries, Science and Technology (MIST) negotiated a contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish the DAPIT Project, which included funding and technical support for the TCC's second ITTU in Tamale in the Northern Region. The two ITTUs were to achieve a significant impact on the development of small-scale industries in Ashanti and Northern Regions during the 1980s and 1990s.
The 'Second Coming' of Jerry Rawlings started with a coup on 31 December 1981. This time a political revolution was loudly proclaimed, in which the people were called upon to take over running the country from the managers and professionals who had previously controlled the civil service and major institutions. The TCC was celebrating its tenth anniversary on 11 January 1982, and in an interview on national television the director was asked if he supported the 'on-going revolutionary process.' Much to the relief of his staff and colleagues, the director replied that the TCC had always worked for a revolution in Ghana, which they called the Industrial Revolution.
After the release from house arrest of Dr Limann, the former Deputy Minister of MIST, Dr Francis Acquah, accepted the post of Secretary. Under Dr Acquah's leadership grassroots industrial development in Ghana was given a great boost. To celebrate the progress that was being made the first Ghana international fair of industry and technology, INDUTECH, was held in Accra in March 1986.
The first exhibition that Dr Acquah showed to Jerry Rawlings on the opening day was that of the TCC mounted on behalf of KNUST. The government agreed that the technology transfer programme, demonstrated in Kumasi and Tamale by the ITTUs, should be replicated in all ten regions of Ghana and the TCC was asked to draw up a plan. The GRATIS Project to put this plan into effect was approved in February 1987. By the time that Rawlings finally handed over power in 2000, all ten ITTUs had been established and were in operation. The seedling planted by Dr Kofi Busia had spread its canopy over the whole country.
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