Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (1952 – 24 September 2008) was a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a chartered accountant. He was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the

Parliament of Ghana The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Government of Ghana. History Legislative representation in Ghana dates back to 1850, when the country was a British colony known as Gold Coast. The body, called the Legislative Council, ...

for Asante Akim North Constituency from January 1997 until his death on September 24, 2008. He served as a Minister of state at different ministries under the

Kufuor government This is a list of the ministers who have served in John Kufuor's New Patriotic Party government during the Fourth Republic of Ghana. This government started on January 7, 2001, the first changeover between civilian governments in Ghana through the ...

from 2001.

Early life and education

Baah-Wiredu was born in Asante Akim Agogo. He started his

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

at the

Kumasi High School Kumasi High School, often referred to as KUHIS, is a category A boys' senior high school in the Ashanti region of Ghana. It was established in 1962, by S. K. Amoah. The school is regarded as one of the best senior high schools in Ghana and th ...

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

in 1967. He obtained the GCE Ordinary Level Certificate in 1972. He had his sixth form education at

Prempeh College Prempeh College is a public secondary boarding school for boys located in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. The school was founded in 1949 by the Asanteman traditional authority, the British Colonial Government, the Metho ...

, also in Kumasi. Baah-Wiredu proceeded to the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

in 1974 and obtained a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Administration (Accounting option). He then did a four-year course with the Institute of Chartered Accountants qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1985.

Career

Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu worked within various positions with

Ghana Airways Ghana Airways Limited was the flag carrier of Ghana, with its main base of operation and hub at Kotoka International Airport in Accra. The airline ceased operations in 2004, although plans were discussed to revive it in 2020 in partnership wit ...

and

Volta River Authority The Volta River Authority (VRA) is the main generator and supplier of electricity in Ghana. They are also the responsible for the maintenance of the hydro power supply plant. Establishment The VRA was established by the Volta River Development ...

. 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.

Politics

Member of Parliament

Baah-Wiredu began his political career in 1997 after emerging the winner of the 1996 Ghanaian General Election. He was one of the campaigners against the Union government (UNIGOV) concept promoted by General

Acheampong Acheampong is an Ashanti surname, which means destined for greatness. Notable people with the Ashanti surname include: * Benjamin Acheampong (born 1990), Ghanaian footballer * Gemma Acheampong (born 1993), American-Ghanaian track and field athl ...

's Supreme Military Council in 1978. He joined the

New Patriotic Party , logo = , colorcode = #132f7a , founder = , founded = 28 July 1992 , dissolved = , leader = Nana Akufo-Addo , chairman = Stephen Ayensu Ntim Stephen Ntim elected NPP National Chairman on fifth attempt http://www.gna.org.gh/1.2152672 ...

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.

Minister of state

He became a Minister in

John Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been sp ...

's NPP government in 2001. He held the portfolios of Local Government and Rural Development (2001–2003) and Education, Youth and Sports (2003–2005).He became the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in 2005. 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

In the year 2000, Baah-Wiredu won the general elections as the member of parliament for the Asante Akim North constituency of the

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

. He won on the ticket of the

. His constituency was a part of the 31 parliamentary seats out of 33 seats won by the

in that election for the

. The

won a majority total of 99 parliamentary seats out of 200 seats. He was elected with 32,341 votes out of 45,227 total valid votes cast. This was equivalent to 72.3% of the total valid votes cast. He was elected over Kofi Opoku Manu of the National Democratic Congress, Kwabena Anafi of the

Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Conven ...

, James K. Baah of the People's National Convention, Emmanuel K. Adade of the New Reformed Party and Joseph B Frimpong of the

United Ghana Movement The United Ghana Movement is a political party in Ghana. The founder is Charles Wereko-Brobby, formerly a leading member of the New Patriotic Party. Registration The party was officially registered with the Electoral Commission of Ghana as a pol ...

. These won 11,852, 168, 151, 130 and 75 votes out of the total valid votes cast respectively. These were equivalent to 26.5%, 0.4%, 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.2% respectively of total valid votes cast. Baah-Wiredu was elected as the member of parliament for the Asante Akim North constituency of the

in the 2004 Ghanaian general elections. He won on the ticket of the

. 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. The New Patriotic Party won a majority total of 128 parliamentary seats out of 230 seats. He was elected with 40,497 votes out of 53,098 total valid votes cast equivalent to 76.3% of total valid votes cast. 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

. These obtained 0.8%, 21.6% and 1.3% respectively of total valid votes cast.

Personal life

Baah-Wiredu was married with 6 children.

Death

On 24 September 2008, Baah-Wiredu died in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

where he had been receiving medical treatment for a short illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baah-Wiredu, Kwadwo 1952 births 2008 deaths Ghanaian MPs 1997–2001 Ghanaian MPs 2001–2005 People from Agogo, Ghana Ghanaian MPs 2005–2009 University of Ghana alumni Education ministers of Ghana Finance ministers of Ghana Sports ministers of Ghana Local government ministers of Ghana New Patriotic Party politicians People from Ashanti Region Kumasi High School alumni