Richard Abusua-Yedom Quarshie

Richard was born on 6 March 1918, in Ewusiadjo near Dixcove in the Western Region. He went to secondary school at Achimota School. Quarshie was trained as a Barrister at Lincoln's Inn, London.^[1][2]

Quarshie entered the Civil Service in 1940 and became a Labor Officer in 1945. In 1956, he was employed by the Foreign Service. In 1963, he was the Sub-director and Resident Director of the Consolidated African Selection Trust Ltd. (CAST), which operates in diamond mining.^{[3][2][4][5][6]} On 1 July 1968, Quarshie became the Founding President of the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) and later became President of the Ghana Cocoa Board.

Quarshie was one of Ghana's first diplomats. He set up missions in London and Paris. He was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs when he was sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo on 22 November 1960. He was brought to Leopoldville by Henry Templer Alexander, the then Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces. This was apparently to replace Nathaniel Welbeck, the then Ghanaian chargé d'affaires to Congo. Welbeck's residence was besieged by the Congo military upon allegations that he was plotting against Mobutu's regime with the then deposed Patrice Lumumba. Quarshie was arrested in his hotel by Congolese soldiers and held for an hour.^[7][3][8]