Kwadwo Baah Wiredu

Hon. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu
Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North
In office January 1997 – 24 September 2008
Succeeded by	Kwame Anyimadu Antwi
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning
In office January 2005 – 24 September 2008
President	John Kufuor
Preceded by	Yaw Osafo-Marfo
Constituency	Asante Akim North
Personal details
Born	1952 Asante Akim Agogo, Ghana
Died	24 September 2008 Pretoria, South Africa
Nationality	Ghanaian
Political party	New Patriotic Party
Children	6
Profession	Chartered Accountant
Religion	Methodist

Kwadwo Baah Wiredu (1952 – 24 September 2008) was a Ghanaian politician and a Chartered Accountant. He had been a Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Ghana since January 1997 and had been a minister in the Kufuor government since 2001.

Early life and education

Baah Wiredu was born in Asante Akim Agogo. He started his secondary education at the Kumasi High School, Kumasi in 1967. He obtained the GCE Ordinary Level Certificate in 1972. He had his sixth form education at Prempeh College, also in Kumasi. Baah Wiredu proceeded to the University of Ghana in 1974 and obtained a B.Sc. in Administration (Accounting option). He then did a four-year course with the Institute of Chartered Accountants qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1985.^[1]

Career

Kwadwo Baah Wiredu worked at various positions with the now defunct Ghana Airways airline and with the Volta River Authority. He worked as a senior consultant on computer-systems and as finance manager of Ananse Systems. In addition, he was a partner in Asante Wiredu and Associates, an accounting firm, prior to being an member of Parliament.^[2]

Politics

Baah Wiredu was one of the campaigners against the Union government (UNIGOV) concept put forward by General Acheampong's Supreme Military Council in 1978.^[1] He joined the New Patriotic Party when it was formed in 1992. He became an MP in the Second Parliament of the Fourth Republic after the 1996 parliamentary elections and had retained his seat since.

He became a minister in John Kufuor's NPP government in 2001.^[3] He held the portfolios of Local Government and Rural Development (2001–03)^[3] and Education, Youth and Sports (2003–05).^[4] He became the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in 2005.^[5] In 2005 he was the first Finance Minister in Ghana's history to present the country's Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament before the arrival of that fiscal year. with his budget for the fiscal year 2006, and since then it has become a norm for all successive Finance Ministers.

Death

On September 24 2008, Baah Wiredu died in South Africa where he had been receiving medical treatment for a short illness.^[6][7]

References

1. "Minister for Finance & Economic Planning". Official website. Ghana government. Archived from the original on 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
2. "Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (NPP) (Asanti-Akim North)". GhanaDistricts.com. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
3. "Eleven Ministers Sworn-in". Ghana Web. 2 February 2001. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
4. "Government names new Cabinet". Ghana Web. 1 April 2003. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
5. "Parliament suspends debate on 2006 Budget". Modern Ghana. 15 November 2005. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
6. Kwasi Kpodo (24 September 2008). "Ghana's finance minister dies in South Africa". African News. Reuters. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
7. "How Hon. Baah Wiredu Died". Ghana Web. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-02.