Edward Quist-Arcton

Last updated
Edward Akufo Quist-Arcton
Born
Edward Akufo Quist-Arcton

(1923-09-19)19 September 1923
Accra
Nationality Ghanaian
Education Accra Academy
Alma mater Brasenose College, Oxford
Occupation(s) Civil Servant, forester
Known forFirst Chief Conservator of Forests

Edward Akufo Quist-Arcton was a Ghanaian forester and civil servant. He was the Chief Conservator of Forests from 1961 to 1962 and the Principal Secretary to the Ghanaian Ministry of Agriculture from 1962 to 1964. He was the first Ghanaian to be appointed Chief Conservator of Forests. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Quist-Arcton was born on 19 September 1923 in Accra, Ghana (then Gold Coast). [2] He was educated at Accra Academy where he was head boy for the 1942 batch of students, and thereafter attended Achimota College. [2] In 1948 Quist-Arcton became one of the earliest West Africans to enter the Commonwealth Forestry Institute of the University of Oxford. [2] There, he was a member of Brasenose College, and an active student in sports, taking special interest in hockey, tennis, and golf. He also joined the Oxford University Senior Training Corps, enrolling in three summer camps. [2] While at Oxford, Quist-Arcton was also a member of the West African Students' Club, a political group of which he served as its president in his third year. He graduated in 1952 with honours Moderations in the Natural Sciences, namely; Botany, Chemistry and Geology, and an honours degree in Forestry. [2] [3] [4]

Career

Quist-Arcton joined the Gold Coast Forest Service in 1946 as a probationer. [2] Upon his return from his studies in the United Kingdom in 1952, he appointed Assistant Conservator of Forests. Working in this capacity, he gained experience in both the Savannah and High Forest areas as a District Forest Officer. At the Savannah areas, he was mostly involved in Reserve selection and demarcation, and also gained information on watershed management. In 1956, he became a Senior Assistant Conservator. [5] As the Senior Assistant Conservator, he was responsible for the Forestry Training School for Rangers and also worked at District level for two years. [2]

Following a requisite refresher course in 1958 at the Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford, he was appointed S.A.C.F. Special Duties for a few months, tasked with the preparation of working plans. He later gained appointment as acting Conservator in February 1959, and substantive Conservator in July that same year. [5] Working in that capacity, he was responsible for the Western and Central Circles and also responsible for working plans at the Headquarters, as well as serving as Headquarters Assistant. In July 1960, he was made Deputy Chief Conservator of Forest, and in January 1961, became Chief Conservator of Forest. [5] Following his appointment,  Quist-Arcton became the first graduate of African descent in a Commonwealth Territory, to be appointed Chief Conservator. [2]

In February 1962, Quist-Arcton became Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture. [6] This portfolio encompassed Agricultural Extension, Produce Inspection,  Agricultural Education, Land Planning,  the Volta River Scheme, Fisheries, Agricultural Resettlement and Farm Mechanisation, Agricultural Statistics, the Cocoa Division, and Statutory Bodies such as; Marketing Boards, and Co-operatives. [2] He attended the United Nations or FAO conferences in Rome in 1959, Nigeria in 1960, New York in 1963, and Washington in 1963. He also established Land Reclamation and Irrigation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, taking special interest in Forest Headwaters Reservation and Watershed Management.

Quist-Arcton served as the chairman of the Ghana Science Association from 1961 to 1962, and on the Governing Council of the Commonwealth Forestry Association for three years.

After exiting public service in Ghana, Quiet-Arcton gained employment at the Forestry division of the F. A. O. in Rome. After working two years in Rome, working in the Field Operations Unit attached to the Director's office, he was made Regional Officer for the Eastern Zone of Africa, stationed in Nairobi, Kenya. He oversaw F.A.O. forestry affairs in Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Réunion, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. [2]

Personal life

Quist-Arcton was married with four children. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana Airways</span> Defunct national airline of Ghana, 1958–2004

Ghana Airways Limited was the flag carrier of Ghana, with its main base of operation and hub at Kotoka International Airport in Accra. The airline ceased operations in 2004, although plans were discussed to revive it in 2020 in partnership with Egyptair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ako Adjei</span> Ghanaian statesman, politician, lawyer and journalist

Ako Adjei, was a Ghanaian statesman, politician, lawyer and journalist. He was a member of the United Gold Coast Convention and one of six leaders who were detained during Ghana's struggle for political independence from Britain, a group famously called The Big Six. He has been recognized as a founding father of Ghana for his active participation in the immediate politics of Ghana's pre-independence era. Adjei became a member of parliament as a Convention People's Party candidate in 1954 and held ministerial offices until 1962 when as Minister for Foreign Affairs he was wrongfully detained for the Kulungugu bomb attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. E. S. de Graft-Hayford</span> Ghanaian boxer

John Ebenezer Samuel de Graft-Hayford (1912–2002) was Ghana's first Ghanaian Chief of Air Staff. He became the first indigenous Air Force Commander in Ghana and Black Sub-Saharan Africa. He was also acting Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for a brief period in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana Army</span> Military unit

The Ghana Army is the principal land warfare force of Ghana. In 1959, two years after the Gold Coast became independent from the British Empire, the Gold Coast Regiment was withdrawn from the Royal West African Frontier Force and formed the basis for the new Ghanaian army. Together with the Ghana Air Force and Ghana Navy, the Ghana Army makes up the Ghana Armed Forces, which is controlled by the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence and Central Defence Headquarters, both of which are located in the Greater Accra Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Charles Quist</span> Gold Coast barrister, judge and first Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana

Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist, also known as Paa Quist was a barrister, educator and judge who served as the first Speaker of the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly and the first Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana.

Ofeibea Quist-Arcton is a Ghanaian-British radio journalist, correspondent, commentator and broadcaster. She works for National Public Radio, reporting on issues and events related to West Africa. She grew up in Ghana, Italy, Britain, and Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accra Academy</span> Male second cycle institution in Kaneshie, Ghana

Accra Academy is a boys' secondary school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. The school was established as a private school in 1931 and gained the status of a Government-Assisted School in 1950. It is the oldest existing secondary school to have been privately founded in the Gold Coast.

Ghana's most popular sport is football, followed by boxing, Athletics, Badminton and basketball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen of Ghana</span> Elizabeth IIs reign in Ghana from 1957 to 1960

Elizabeth II was Queen of Ghana from 1957 to 1960, when Ghana was an independent sovereign state and a constitutional monarchy. She was also queen of the United Kingdom and other sovereign states. Her constitutional roles in Ghana were delegated to the governor-general of Ghana.

Vincent Cyril Richard Arthur Charles (V.C.R.A.C.) Crabbe was a Ghanaian jurist and public servant. He was a judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 1970 to 1972 and from 1980 to 1982. Before his appointment on the court, he formed and headed a permanent electoral commission to conduct the 1969 Ghanaian Election. He chaired the Constituent Assembly of 1979 that deliberated over and presented a constitution for Ghana's Third Republic before his reappointment to the supreme court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Banks Elliott</span> Ghanaian diplomat and statesman (1917–2018)

John Banks Elliott was a Ghanaian diplomat and statesman. He was Ghana's first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Soviet Union, serving from 1960 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore S. Clerk</span> Ghanaian architect and urban planner (1909-1965)

Theodore Shealtiel Clerk, was an urban planner on the Gold Coast and the first formally trained, professionally certified Ghanaian architect. Attaining a few historic firsts in his lifetime, Theodore Clerk became the chief architect, city planner, designer and developer of Tema which is the metropolis of the Tema Harbour, the largest port in Ghana. The first chief executive officer (CEO) of the Ghanaian parastatal, the Tema Development Corporation as well as a presidential advisor to Ghana's first Head of State, Kwame Nkrumah, T. S. Clerk was a founding member and the first president of the first post-independent, wholly indigenous and self-governing Ghanaian professional body, the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), that had its early beginnings in 1963. He was also an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Town Planning Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Rosario Abavana</span>

Lawrence Rosario Abavana was a Ghanaian politician and teacher by profession. He served in various ministerial portfolios in the first republic and also served as a member of the council of state in the third republic. He was a member of the Convention People's Party (CPP).

Lebrecht Wilhelm Fifi Hesse was a Ghanaian public servant and the first black African Rhodes Scholar. He served as Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation on two occasions. He was also a member of the Public Services Commission of Ghana.

Goodwin Tutum Anim, also known by the name Isaac Goodwin Aikins, was a Ghanaian journalist. He was the first African Managing Director of the Ghana News Agency and later Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Arts and Culture.

Jacob Ofori Torto was a Ghanaian public servant. He served as Ghana's Commissioner (Minister) for Agriculture from 1967 to 1968, and Ghana's Commissioner (Minister) for Forestry from 1968 to 1969.

Gilbert Boafo Boahene was a Ghanaian civil servant who was Secretary to the Supreme Military Council, and also was Secretary to the Public Services Commission on two occasions; first in the First Republic and then in the Second Republic. He was the cabinet secretary of the S.M.C. government in Ghana at the time of its overthrow in the 1979 June 4th revolution.

David Kpakpoe Acquaye is a Ghanaian academic and agriculturalist. He was a professor of Soil Science and Crop Science, and the first head of the Soil Science department of the University of Ghana.

James Macdonald, CBE, FRSE was a British civil servant and forester.

References

  1. ↑ Ghana, Forestry Department (1961). Annual Report of the Forestry Dept., Ghana. Ghana Ministry Lands and Natural Resources, 1961. p. 15.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "E. A. Quist-Arcton". The Commonwealth Forestry Review. 52 (2 (152)): 105–107. 1973. ISSN   0010-3381. JSTOR   42605390.
  3. ↑ Society, University of Oxford Forest (1966). Journal.
  4. ↑ Journal of the Oxford University Forestry Society. Holywell Press. 1966.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ghana Year Book. Graphic Corporation. 1963.
  6. ↑ Ghana Year Book. Graphic Corporation. 1963.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.