I came to know Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu as a colleague in the 2nd Parliament of the Fourth Republic (1997-2000).

When I lost my seat in the 2000 elections, he invited me to join him at the Ministry of Local Government where I worked as his Special Assistant for about 18 months.

While in Parliament we were both in the minority - he from the NPP and I from the CPP - but we work closely especially on the Public Accounts Committee of which he was the Vice Chairman.

He often chaired the committee sittings because the honourable J. H. Mensah, who was the committee's Chairman, would be busy performing other duties as Minority Leader.

He attended every scheduled committee meeting and when attendance was low, he could always count on me to to be present and so we became close.

At this early stage of our acquaintance, I realised how diligent and honest the honourable Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu was.

But I was to discover more of his intrinsic worth later- he exhibited human qualities that, these days, few who are entrusted with power would.

Little wonder that President Kufuor had no inhibitions in naming him as his first Cabinet Minister just hours after he won elections in the year 2000.

To say that Kwadwo Baah, was very hard working will be an under statement. Whatever he did, he did with all his might and with all his heart. He was meticulous in his examination of documents, however, voluminous.

While I worked with him at Local Government he would come to work early and leave the office late, sometimes after 8p.m. when he had cleared his desk.

 He insisted on hard work and would call on offices and greet workers. To the surprise of many, I sometimes accompanied him to the workers canteen downstairs to eat lunch.

In his Parliamentary duties, his favourite was the yearly Financial Statement (Budget) sent to Parliament for debate and approval.

In those days, Kwadwo Baah would scrutinise the Budget statement from cover to cover and make copious notes on every page.  Continued    Source: Daily Graphic - Daily Graphic