1912-1993

“The father of engineering education on African soil, a scientific inventor, an institution builder, an administrator extraordinare, an adroit negotiator, a lover and patron of the arts, a leading and pioneer stage and film actor, a sportsman, a philanthropist, a mystic and a family man, Dr. Robert Patrick Baffour was born to greatness, achieved greatness and had greatness thrust onto him.

Robert Patrick Baffour, OBE, OV a descendant of Chief Kweku Andoh, Regent of Elmina from 1872 to 1897.  RP Baffour was born in Elmina on the 14th of May 1912 and named Papa Kweku Andoh, after his grandfather the regent.  Dr Robert Patrick Baffour  was an engineer, a politician and the first Vice Chancellor of the then University of Science and Technology, now KNUST – Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.  He started school in 1917 at the Catholic school in Elmina.  Before that he had been with his father in Owerri, Nigeria, returning with a smattering of the Nigerian patois which in those days passed for English and this created quite a stir in Elmina.  In 1924, his father took him to Nigeria where for two years he attended the Okar Government School.

  1. P Baffour attended Mfantsipim School, then called Richmond College in September 1926 joining in Form 2, obtaining a Cambridge Senior School Certificate and exemption from London Matriculation. He came first during his time, in the Civil Service Examination. He could have opted to join the British Civil Service, but chose to be a pioneer engineering student at Achimota under the tutelage of a founding engineering instructor called Charles Deakin.

Whilst with the late William Ofori Attah, he was introduced to Dr. J.B. Danquah.  The eminent lawyer was taken aback by the ambitions of the young Robert.  “Never mind,” he said to him eventually, “you will try.” When he passed his Inter B. Sc in 1933, JB Danquah was the first person to come to Achimota and congratulate him.  He became the first Ghanaian in 1935 to receive a University of London degree in mechanical engineering in Ghana.  This was a remarkable feat as he was the first in the whole Gold Coast.    Achimota School declared a one day holiday on the occasion!

Achimota brought many of RP’s gifts to the fore.  Although, he was under a lot of academic pressure, as he was largely self-tutoring, he still found time to play cricket as a wicket keeper and batsman, as well as football and hockey, winning colours in all.  He also took up boxing and fistic art.  He took leading roles in the school’s drama activities. He had a rich baritone and a natural flair for singing and acting and he used his robust stage presence to great effect.  This set the tone for a lifelong devotion to drama and the arts in general.

RPs was a genius inventor and made original designs and inventions that had he been European would have made him much wealth and fame.  He designed a descending gear ‘the Descender’ for use on locomotives to prevent the slipping of locomotive wheels on wet rails.  He followed up with the design of a locomotive called 250 Classes, which was adopted by not only the Gold Coast Government, but for Palestine and East African Railways.  The most amazing invention of RP Baffour was the clockwork device which in those early days of aeronautic engineering provided a means of determining the flight path of an aeroplane.  This invention stunned the British Airforce.  He produced a booklet ‘Power in the Volta’ to prove to Ghanaians the viability of a hydro-electric dam on the Volta River.

He had to deal with racism as a fully-fledged and efficient engineer, he was seen as an unwelcome guest by his European counterparts.  After an initial resistance to his employment in the Railways, he had to live in town as he was refused a bungalow.  He was there from 1936 to 1941.

At the Railways he founded a drama group with the literary and social club of Sekondi and produced ‘The Pirates of Penzance’.  It was unheard of for an all-black cast to perform this.  This began the popularization of theatre in Ghana.

He went back to Achimota to work with Charles Deakin, becoming the first African engineering lecturer to teach Africans on African soil. Under his tutelage talented Ghanaians such as Acquah, Coleman, Loram, Lartey and Prah were following in his footsteps to become engineers. His presence must have truly inspired and encouraged them.

From 1946 to 1953 he worked with the Accra City Council. Whilst he worked at the Accra City Council, he designed cars namely the ‘Ewurakua’ and ‘King Kong’ cars. These were to take the place of the ‘dangerous contraptions’ that were being used as public transport.

He became the Chairman of the Prison’s Committee in the period that Nkrumah and other politicians were imprisoned.  This was in 1950 and he visited them monthly to listen to their complaints and improve conditions.

In 1952, he was sent by Nkrumah to Holland to discuss the use of their novel building technology and housing schemes in Ghana.  He recommended that the government begin prefabricated houses in Kaneshie Estate.

In 1958, he was appointed the first African Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communication and was part of the team selecting the site for the Akosombo Dam, planning the expansion of the city of Tema and the harbour. He was responsible for the setting up of the Nautical College and the Black Star Line, the vision he shared with Nkrumah of a grand shipping line that would fly the flag of Ghana on international waters.  He was also involved in the creation of the Ghana Airways Corporation from the regional West African Airways.

His most prestigious opportunity came in 1959 when Nkrumah asked him to go to Kumasi and revive a floundering Engineering University.  Although initially doubtful, he embraced the idea and proceeded to design a first-class university for science and technology.  He initially was the Principal of the Kumasi College of Technology and then became the first Vice Chancelor, a position he held until the overthrow of the government in 1966.

Although his appointment was baffling in some quarters because he did not have the title ‘Doctor’, he was the best person for the job in terms of moral commitment and practical experience.  Not only was he the first student to be trained as an engineer on African soil, but he was also the first locally trained engineering lecturer.  RP soon left no doubt that he was the best person to take on this responsibility.

He was bent on creating an institution that would serve the intellectual, spiritual and physical development of both staff and students.  The lecture rooms, science laboratories, the student flats and administrative buildings, assembly hall, Olympic sized swimming pool and stadium are an abiding monument attesting to the depth of his imagination and the vision he had to make his university produce some of the best engineers in Africa.  The beautiful Catholic chaplaincy buildings on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology are a ‘humble monument’ documenting his faith in God.

Dr. Baffour was the chairman of the Integrated Iron and Steel Commission, the first chairman of the Ghana Atomic Energy Board and the driving force in the fundraising for the Opon Manse. Steel Works. He instigated the Kwabenya Nuclear Plant which was halted by the coup against President Kwame Nkrumah.

In 1962, Baffour was elected president of the 6th regular session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In the arts, he was an actor in developmental films such as ‘Progress in Kojokrom’, ‘The Boy Kumasenu’ and the BBC production, ‘A Day in the Life of an African’.  He was a sports enthusiast and one of the patrons of the Gold Coast team that went to the 1956 Olympics in Helsinki.  As a boxing enthusiast, he was affiliated to several boxing clubs in Accra and had a great relationship with the legendary Ghanaian boxer, Roy Ankrah.  He was made the Chairman of the Ghana Boxing Association.

RP loved Elmina dearly.  It was indeed the land of his fathers.  He is credited with organizing the Edina Korye Kuw and the Edina Mpuntu Fekuw with citizens such as Messrs F.F. Plange, Wattenburg, and ME Adams.  Until retirement from public life, he worked for the town’s development and was instrumental in securing the Elmina Fishing Harbour Project for the people of Elmina.   He was awarded an OBE for his services in 1953 and in 1979, received the Order of the Volta.  History vindicated him when his academic colleagues invited him to receive a degree of Doctor of Science (Honoraris Causa).

In 1983, RP acquired Sight and Sound Education Ghana a secretarial school which had been set up in 1968 by a group of expatriates in collaboration with Sight and Sound Education in London.  He had been concerned about the training of secretaries in modern touch typing.  He knew the importance of well-trained secretarial staff to any state or private enterprise of note.

In his latter years ‘his soul never ceased to proclaim how kind God had been to him; how kind his parents had been to him; how kind his family and friends had been to him.’ He looked back over a great life and often breathed a sigh of deep joy, proclaiming that, “It was good.”

Reference: Funeral brochure (14 August, 1993)