Nicholas T. Clerk

Nicholas Timothy Clerk (3 March 1930 – 22 September 2012) was a Ghanaian academic, administrator and Presbyterian minister who served as the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from 1977 to 1982. He was also the vice-chairman of the Public Services Commission of Ghana. Clerk chaired the Public Services Commission of Uganda from 1989 to 1990.

Early life and family

Nicholas Timothy Clerk was born on 3 March 1930 in Adawso in the Eastern Region of Ghana. and the Editor of the Christian Messenger, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1960 to 1963. She was the granddaughter of Nii Ngleshie Addy I, the eldest son of Nii Tetteh Tsuru I, the founder and ruler of the Otuopai Clan, a royal house in Ga Mashie.

Nicholas Timothy Clerk was a fourth generation member of the historically important Clerk family. His paternal great-grandfather, Alexander Worthy Clerk (1820–1906), a Jamaican Moravian missionary arrived in the Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg (now the suburb of Osu) in Accra on the Gold Coast in 1843, as part of the original group of 24 West Indian missionaries who worked under the auspices of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society of Basel, Switzerland. His great-grandaunt was Regina Hesse (1832 –1898), a pioneer educator and school principal who worked with the Basel Mission on the Gold Coast. His aunts were Jane E. Clerk (1904–1999), a female education administration pioneer and Matilda J. Clerk (1916–1984), the second Ghanaian woman to become a medical doctor. He was the cousin of Pauline M. Clerk (1935 - 2013), a diplomat and a presidential advisor and Alexander Adu Clerk (born 1947), a sleep medicine specialist and psychiatrist His granduncle, Emmanuel Charles Quist (1880–1959), a barrister and judge, became the first African President of the Legislative Council from 1949 to 1951, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1957, and Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana from March 1957 to November 1957.

Maternally, Clerk's uncle was the barrister and judge, Nii Amaa Ollennu (1906–1986), elected the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the Second Republic as well as serving as the Chairman of the Presidential Commission and acting President of Ghana from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970. His other maternal uncle was Nathan Quao (1915–2005), a diplomat, educationist and public servant who became a presidential advisor to the governments of several Heads of State of Ghana. In addition, his first cousin was an economist and diplomat, Amon Nikoi (1930–2002), the Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1973 to 1977 and Finance minister from 1979 to 1981.

Education and training He had his primary education at Presbyterian schools at Kpong, Odumase Krobo, Somanya and Osu according to the teaching postings of his father. He had his secondary education at the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School, Odumase-Krobo where he was elected the Senior Prefect in 1949. He won a colonial scholarship to study English Language and Literature at the University College, Leicester, then part of the University of London external system, receiving his honours bachelor's degree in 1955.

Career

Academia In his early career, he taught English Language and Literature at his alma mater, the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, Odumase-Krobo, the Government Training College at Peki and Tamale and at the Department of Liberal Arts at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Moreover, he was the Chairperson of the Missions and Monuments Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Earlier in his pastoral career, he had a stint as an associate minister at the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu. His younger brother was the plant pathologist, George C. Clerk (1931–2019). N. T. Clerk was also a trained pianist and a flautist. Clerk, N. T. & Dabi-Dankwa, S.N.O. (1988) Half a century of secondary school education by the Presbyterian Church : the story of Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School, Odumase Krobo / Legon golden jubilee, 1938–1988 Clerk, N. T. (1990) Report of the Public Service Review and Reorganization Commission, 1989–1990 / Vol. 1, Main report. Entebbe: Ministry of Public Service and Cabinet Affairs