He Lived A Humble Life - Tribute To Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu

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.

In later years when I visited him at the Finance Ministry, I heard him insisting that Drusla his secretary send Dr Nii Moi Thomsom of the CPP (whose views he respected and cherished) an advance copy of the Budget before he presented it to Parliament.

He was a very humble and down to earth person; he dressed simply preferring to wear a tie only for the Chamber of Parliament for formal occasion.

Kwadwo Baah did not create any atmosphere of self-importance around himself. He was always smiling, not insulting or being saucy even when heckled on the floor of Parliament.

One got a sense of how frugal this man was when you visited his house; you would see that humility permeated the whole household from his wife to his daughters.

Initially, at the Local Government Ministry he insisted on using just a small saloon car while in Accra and did so till I left.

 He preferred using such smaller cars rather than using a 4x4 vehicle just to run around Accra.

He was courteous and respected everyone he encountered, listening to their problems whether official and personal.

He answered every phone call with a sincere “yes sir” or “Senior” without knowing who might be at the other end.

His office door was always open to all the when the queue in his reception was long, he would occasionally pop out to assure the visitors waiting to see him.

One weekend in 2002, there was a knock on the front of my flat which was answered by my daughter.

And to her utter surprise Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu was at the door. He had come to discuss a draft document on Decentralisation that I was working on, and which he was to present at a Mini-Consultative Group meeting with the IMF the following Monday.

When he left my daughter wondered why he had not called me to his house but rather chose to come to a subordinate to discuss work.

Kwadwo Baah was a very well-organised person. He kept a daily record of activities that occurred in diaries, many volumes of which I am sure he filled up during nearly eight years as Cabinet Minister, and the last volume of which would have been with him till he passed away in South Africa.

I believe that Kwadwo Baah never condoned corruption even if it meant dealing with cases on the quiet, cut of publicity.

I know of instances while I worked with him at Local Government when he said no-thank-you and ordered the return of “gift” to their senders.

It is no wonder that everybody in Ghana is shocked at the sad news of the death of a Hon Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu.

 Many admired him, praised the way he worked, and spoke highly of him even during his lifetime.

People such as Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu through their acts of humility, civility, and respect for others, bring honour to their party and to Ghana which we all would do well to emulate.

I like to end by paraphrasing the words of an old song which goes

Has anybody here seen my friend Kwadwo Baah?

Can you tell Ghanaians where he is gone?

He worked so hard for Ghana

But it seems the good die young.

Ghanaians just looked around and he was gone.

Kwadwo Baah loved to serve mother Ghana and did it wholeheartedly thus giving meaning to the world Patriotism. He was a true Patriot.

 By Alabira Ibrahim