Baah-Wiredu was a barometer to alma mater - Headmaster

Kumasi, Oct. 5, GNA - Mr Michael Oppong Yeboah, Headmaster of Kumasi High School (KUHIS) at the week-end described the late Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning as "the barometer by which the success of succeeding school prefects of KUHIS were measured, no wonder he rose to become one of the best Minister of State Ghana can boast of." In a statement issued in Kumasi to express their condolences to the bereaved family and Government, Mr Yeboah said "Senior Baah-Wiredu left KUHIS in 1972 and his name had become a household one in the school, perhaps due to the manner in which he distinguished himself as the Senior School Prefect."

Authorities of the school declared three days of mourning before the one-week celebration of his death at Agogo in Asante Akim North Municipality on Wednesday, October 1. A statement from the Presidency in Accra on Wednesday, September 24 signed by Mr Kwadwo O. Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs announced the death of Mr Baah-Wiredu in a South African Hospital after a short illness.

"The Government announces with deep sorrow and shock the death of Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. "Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu passed away today after a short illness in a South African Hospital," said the statement.

Mr Yeboah said in November last year, Baah-Wiredu cut the sod for work to begin on a Assembly Hall/ Library Complex for the school and suggested that it should be named after him "because it is his brain-child and the greatest tribute the Government and KUHIS world-wide can pay to his memory is to help complete the project."

He said Baah-Wiredu pledged to assist the school with a bus but this did not materialise until his untimely death, adding "now that the man is gone, may his death rekindle the desire of Government to assist schools like KUHIS with transportation problems."

Mr Baah-Wiredu, 56, was born in Asante Akim Agogo.

He started his secondary education at Kumasi High School, Kumasi in 1967. He obtained the GCE Ordinary Level Certificate in 1972 and sixth form education at Prempeh College, also in Kumasi. Mr Baah-Wiredu proceeded to the University of Ghana in 1974 and obtained a B.Sc in Administration (Accounting option). He did a four-year course with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1985 Mr Baah-Wiredu worked at various positions with the now defunct Ghana Airways and the Volta River Authority and as a senior consultant to a computer company.

In addition, he was a partner in Asante Wiredu and Associates, an accounting firm, prior to being an MP. Baah Wiredu was one of the campaigners against the Union government (UNIGOV) concept put forward by General Acheampong's Supreme Military Council.

He joined the New Patriotic Party when it was formed in 1992 and became an MP in the 1997.

He became a Minister in President Kufuor's Government in 2001 and held the portfolios of Local Government and Rural Development (2001-2003); Education, Youth and Sports (2003-2005) and Finance and Economic Planning in 2005, a position he held till the time of his death.