Professionalism and Public Service
The most illustrious contribution of Mfantsipim to Ghana has been in the development of professionalism and public services. The very first Ghanaians to qualify as lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, surveyors and engineers were all Old Boys. Among the lawyers were John Mensah-Sarbah, called to the bar in 1877, Kofi Asaam 1892, J.E. Casely-Hayford 1896 and Kobina Sekyi (one of the faithful eight) who became the first African to graduate in philosophy in a British University in 1913 and qualified as a barrister in 1918. Of 16 Ghanaian principal secretaries heading the various ministries in the 1960s, no less than 11 were Old Boys.
In 1944, R.E.G. Amattoe was elected patron of the German institute of science of which the famous nuclear physicist Professor Albert Einstein was the President.
The first Ghanaians to join the UN and its agencies are Old Boys; A. E. Chinbuah, K. K. Apeadu, F. L. Bartels etc. It is therefore not surprising that the first African to be elected president of the UN General Assembly in the 1960s was Alex Quaison-Sackey, an old boy. The immediate former UN secretary General Kofi Annan is also an Old Boy.
It has been convincingly argued that the best and most brilliant group of all MOBA is the 1930/31 year group that set records in both the Cambridge certificate examinations and in life and has still not been excelled. This group included: Dr. R. P. Baffuor, the first vice chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, M. F. Dei-Anang, C. M. O. Mante, Dr. K. A. Busia, J. Kwesi Lamptey, and C. J. Bannerman. Again it is no surprise therefore that the immediate past Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Kwesi Kwafo Adarkwa is also an old boy of the school.
In the 1930s for five consecutive years, Mfantsipim occupied first place amongst all the West African schools in the examinations of the Cambridge University. In those years, the pass list in Mfantsipim was 85% while in England it was only 61%.
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