Meet one of the great Ghanaian statesmen, Harry Sawyer

Henry Romulus Sawyerr, popularly known as Harry Sawyerr (25 April 1926 – 8 November 2013)

Harry Sawyerr was born in Abokobi, Accra, in the Ga East District to Kwao Sawyerr and Fredericka Naa Awula Akua Lokko.

He had his early education at the Presbyterian Primary School at Abokobi from 1932 to 1938, continuing in 1938 to the Salem School at Osu.

He studied at the Accra Academy for his secondary education between 1942 and 1946. He entered Achimota College in 1947, but his degree studies ended in the sudden death of his father that year, due to lack of funds.

Harry Sawyerr became a Learner Valuer at the Lands Department from 1951 to 1953.

He subsequently studied estate management in England at the University College of Estate Management (1953–55), becoming a certified associate of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, in England at the University College of Estate Management, London, UK.

He worked as a probationer with the London County Council Valuation Department while studying.

He worked as a District Valuer at the Lands Department in Accra (1955–58), and established his private consultancy (1958 -1962).

He was the City Valuer at the Kumasi City Council (1962 -1963) and worked as Chief Federal Lands Officer in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1963-1967), the first black Chief Federal Lands Officer in Nigeria.

He was part of the surveyors who planned Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria.

He was made a member of the 1969 Constituent Assembly that drew up the 1969 Constitution for the second Republic of Ghana.

He contested in the 1969 parliamentary election in Osu-Klottey constituency as a non-party candidate and won. He was the only non party candidate to win a seat in the Parliament of the second republic.

He was the first President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors between 1970 and 1972, and between 1971 and 1977 he was the Organiser and Convener of the Association of Recognised Professional Bodies.

He was among the founders of the United National Convention (UNC) formed to contest the 1979 parliamentary election. However, he left the party to stand as an independent candidate and became a Member of Parliament for Osu Klotey Constituency (Greater Accra Region) in the Third Republic Parliament.

He served as Minister for Transport and Communications (remembered for introducing TATA buses for public transportation in Ghana) from 1979 to 1981 under President Hilla Limann's government.

He was also an External Examiner in Rating Valuation for the Department of Land Economy at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST).

In 1990, Harry Sawyerr became the first Chairman of the Executive Council of the University of Ghana Medical School, he then started sponsoring prizes (named after him) for graduating medical doctors of the Ghana Medical School.

He joined the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and was elected National Vice-Chairman of the party and chaired the National Campaign Committee in the 1992 general election, he subsequently served as Minister for Education under President Jerry John Rawlings' government from 1993 to 1997, some of his major hallmarks were; ensuring punctuality to work, he was instrumental in setting the framework for the attainment of the FCUBE (Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education) programme as enshrined in the Ghanaian Constitution, establishing the Best Teacher Awards Scheme and the Distance Learning Programme.

He was appointed to the Council of State from 1998 to 2000.

At his own expense he procured the first conveyor belt for the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana, and securing ships for the then parastatal Black Star Line in a bid to resurrect it.

Harry Sawyer was decorated with the Companion of the Order of the Volta, the highest award in Ghana, by the then President John Evans Atta Mills.

Sawyerr served as a longstanding Vice-Chairman of the Council of Patrons of Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. and later became the President of Council of Patrons of the football club.