Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu

Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (1952 – 24 September 2008) was a Ghanaian politician and a Chartered Accountant. He was a Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Ghana from January 1997 until his death on September 24, 2008. He served as a Minister of state at different ministries under the Kufuor government from 2001.

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

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 within various positions with Ghana Airways and Volta River Authority. He worked as a senior consultant on computer-systems and as finance manager of Ananse Systems. Prior to being a member of Parliament, he was a partner in Asante Wiredu and Associates, an accounting firm.[2]

Politics

Baah-Wiredu was one of the campaigners against the Union government (UNIGOV) concept promoted 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 since retained his seat.

He became a Minister in John Kufuor's NPP government in 2001.[3] He held the portfolios of Local Government and Rural Development (2001–2003)[3] and Education, Youth and Sports (2003–2005).[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. Since then, this has become a norm for all successive Finance Ministers.

Elections

Baah-Wiredu was elected as the member of parliament for the Asante Akim North constituency of the Ashanti Region of Ghana in the 2004 Ghanaian general elections.[6][7] He won on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party.[6][7] His constituency was a part of the 36 parliamentary seats out of 39 seats won by the New Patriotic Party in that election for the Ashanti Region.[8] The New Patriotic Party won a majority total of 128 parliamentary seats out of 230 seats.[9] He was elected with 40,497 votes out of 53,098 total valid votes cast equivalent to 76.3% of total valid votes cast.[6][7] He was elected over Atobrah Isaac of the Peoples’ National Convention, Thomas Osei Bonsu Nkansah of the National Democratic Congress and Kwabena Anarfi of the Convention People’s Party.[6][7] These obtained 0.8%, 21.6% and 1.3% respectively of total valid votes cast.[5][7]

Personal life

Baah-Wiredu was married with 6 children.[10]

Death

On 24 September 2008, Baah-Wiredu died in South Africa where he had been receiving medical treatment for a short illness.[11][10]

References

1. "Minister for Finance & Economic Planning". Official website. Ghana government. Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
2. "Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (NPP) (Asanti-Akim North)". GhanaDistricts.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
3. "Eleven Ministers Sworn-in". Ghana Web. 2 February 2001. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
4. "Government names new Cabinet". Ghana Web. 1 April 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
5. "Parliament suspends debate on 2006 Budget". Modern Ghana. 15 November 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
6. FM, Peace. "Ghana Election 2004 Results - Asante Akim Central Constituency". Ghana Elections - Peace FM. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
7. Elections 2004; Ghana’s Parliamentary and Presidential Elections. Accra: Electoral Commission of Ghana; Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 2005. p. 119.
8. "Statistics of Presidential and Parliamentary Election Results". Fact Check Ghana. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
9. FM, Peace. "Ghana Election 2004 Results - President". Ghana Elections - Peace FM. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
10. "How Hon. Baah Wiredu Died". Ghana Web. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
11. Kwasi Kpodo (24 September 2008). "Ghana's finance minister dies in South Africa". African News. Reuters. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.

Parliament of Ghana
Preceded by ?	Member of Parliament for Asante Akin North 1997–2008	Succeeded by Kwame Anyimadu Antwi
Political offices
Preceded by Cecilia Johnson	Minister for Local Government and Rural Development 2001–2003	Succeeded by Kwadwo Adjei-Darko
Preceded by Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi	Minister for Education, Youth and Sports 2003–2005	Succeeded by Yaw Osafo-Marfo
Preceded by Yaw Osafo-Marfo	Minister for Finance and Economic Planning 2005–2008	Succeeded by