Awulae slams law muzzling chiefsA CHIEF'S ODE TO JAK AND NPPHuge pall hangs over Ghana at Baah –Wiredu`s death

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Ghana was turned upside down yesterday when news came in that the Finance Minister, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu has died. When the radio stations started broadcasting the news, The Chronicle office was inundated with calls from readers wanting to know the authenticity of the news.

Unconfirmed report says he died of cardiac failure at a South African Hospital, where he was rushed to after his condition worsened while on a business assignment. Minority leader, Hon Alban Bagbin, expressed shock about the news because he did not have any prior information that he had been taken ill.

Hon Bagbin told The Chronicle in an interview that although they differed in ideas because Mr. Baah-Wiredu's party's philosophy of property owning democracy, nevertheless, Ghana has lost a hardworking and patriotic son who was always up to the task.

He said, he admired him as an MP even though when he was nominated as the Finance Minister, he raised issues on his being too young to handle the national purse. He promised that the minority would pay their tribute at the appropriate time.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Portfolio Ltd, publishers of The Chronicle, Mr. Kofi Coomson, recalled the late Minister's special relationship with The Chronicle when he was campaigning to enter parliament in 1996.

He noted that when Prosper Naoh, the then Chronicle stringer at Konongo died, he called the editorial team to express his sympathy. He also played the role of a chairman during the wedding of a former reporter of The Chronicle and now The Editor of The Sun, Mr. Dominic Jale. Both Jale and Naoh gave him extensive coverage in his constituency whilst working for The Chronicle.

“I know that everybody in Ghana will remember him for his accessibility and his simplicity, he has left a void in the NPP and the government, which will be difficult to fill, may the Good Lord turn his Soul,” he stressed downheartedly.

Mr. Coomson remarked that the former Speaker of Parliament, the late Justice D. F. Annan described Baah-Wiredu as the most thorough bread MP because he had a razor sharp mind of a bean counter.

Former President Flt. Lt. (rtd) Jerry John Rawlings has also expressed deep shock at the passing away of the Finance Minister and New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North, Kwadwo Baah Wiredu.

Ghanaweb, quoted him as saying that Ghana has lost a dedicated son.

Throughout his political career he exhibited an element of humility which is lacking within our current political dispensation and which endeared him to his colleagues and political opponents alike, President Rawlings intimated. My heartfelt condolences go to his family for such a loss, he said.

Profile

The Wikipedia states that he was a chartered accountant. He has been a Member of Parliament since January1997 and has 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.

Baah Wiredu was one of the campaigners against the Union government (UNIGOV) concept put forward by General Acheampong's Supreme Military Council in 1978. 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 has retained his seat since then.

He became a Minister in John Kufuor's NPP government since 2001. He has so far held the portfolio of Local Government and Rural Development (2001-2003) and Education, Youth and Sports (2003-2005).

He is currently the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, a position he has held since 2005. He died on Wednesday 24th September, 2008 in South Africa. Meanwhile The Chronicle has learnt that there would be no bye-election in Baah-Wiredu's constituency, due to the proximity of the general elections, because according to the electoral laws bye-elections should not be held six months to general elections.