Kwaku Baprui Asante born on 1 March 1924, was a Ghanaian retired diplomat, writer and politician.
He attended O’Reilly Educational Institute, Tudu, Government Junior Boys’ School, Adabraka, and Government Senior Boys’ School, Kinbu, from 1927 to 1937.
He also attended Achimota College Upper Primary and Secondary School from 1938-1942 and obtained a BSc degree in Mathematics at the University College, Durham University in 1952.
Career and Achievements
Mr Asante was a senior Mathematics tutor at the Achimota College from 1954-1955.
He also became a member of the Institute of Statisticians in 1953, before returning to Achimota College, where he taught mathematics (1953–55).
From England, Mr Asante returned to the then Gold Coast, where he worked as a Consul at the British High Commission for some time before going back to London to assist in the establishment of the Ghana High Commission in 1957. He was also tasked to establish yet another embassy in Tel-Aviv in Israel.
He was the Secretary to Ghana's First President Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Asante also served under most Heads of States in Ghana, starting from Nkrumah, and also served as the Principal Secretary at African Affairs Secretariat from 1960 to 1966.
He was in Addis Ababa when President Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966 and he remained there where he later took a job as Head of Administration at the OAU office.
He became Ghana’s Ambassador to Switzerland and the United Nations Offices in Geneva and the UN establishment in Vienna, with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to Australia from 1967-72.
Mr Asante also became the Chief Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organization (WTO).
He also served as the Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Economic Community from 1976-1978.
Mr Asante retired from the Civil Service in 1978 to form the Social Democratic Front to contest the 1979 elections.
The party won three parliamentary seats in those elections.
He was the Secretary for Trade and Tourism in the PNDC administration in 1982 and later Secretary for Education and Culture from 1986-1990.
He died on the 22 January, 2018 and was survived by a wife with four children; two sons and two daughters.