Amishadai Larson Adu
(born 1914), Assistant District Commissioner, KumasiSitter in 1 portrait
by Unknown photographer
vintage print, 12 December 1946
NPG x134711
Tell us more back to top
Can you tell us more about this person? Spotted an error, information that is missing (a sitter’s life dates, occupation or family relationships, or a date of portrait for example) or do you know anything that we don't know? If you have information to share please complete the form below.
If you require information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service. You can buy a print of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at £6 for unframed prints, £25 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, please use our Rights and Images service.
Please note that we cannot provide valuations.
We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Tommy Gee
26 January 2016, 08:22
A.L.Adu was the first Permanent Secretary to Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, became first Deputy Secretary Secretary General to the Commonwealth Secretary General. He was one of the early Africans to take over from British Colonial Administrators and was in great demand for helping with the winds of change. Thus he served on the governing body of the Institute of Development Studies set up by Barbara Castle at Sussex University in 1965.
Robert B. Todd
20 April 2018, 11:26
Amishadai Larson Adu, b. 22 October 1914 in Antum, in the Eastern Region of the then Gold Coast. He held a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge, taught at his old school, Achimota College, joined the Gold Coast Administrative Service in 1942 (four years before the photograph), then moved to central government. He was secretary to the Coussey Committee which led to a ministerial government headed by Nkrumah. He guided Africanization in the civil service (on which he wrote a book), and after independence (1957) served as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs (1957-9) before becoming Secretary to the Cabinet. He left Ghana in 1962 for a position in East Africa after being moved to the newly established National Council for Higher Education, where one of his tasks was to draw up a blueprint for the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute. After his position with the Commonwealth Secretariat (1966-70), he returned to Ghana.