‘Ghana has lost a fine gentleman and exceptional public servant’ – Akufo-Addo mourns Prof Botchwey

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed his sympathies to the family of Ghana’s longest-serving Finance Minister, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, following his demise.

In a post shared on Facebook on Monday, November 21, President Akufo-Addo described Prof Botchwey as a good friend whom he shared a good relationship with at the university.

President Akufo-Addo praised the former minister for his dedicated service to the country.

“The death of my good friend, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, is a very sad development. My contemporary, in the mid-1960s, at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Botchway was a longstanding public servant, who discharged his duties thoughtfully and with dignity, and became Ghana’s longest-serving Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.

“The thoughts and sympathies of my wife, Rebecca, the First Lady, and I are with his partner, children and family. I extend my deepest condolences to them, and also to the National Democratic Congress, of which he was a prominent and much respected member. Ghana has lost a fine gentleman and exceptional public servant,” parts of the president’s post read.

Ghana’s longest-serving Finance Minister, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, reportedly passed on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital at age 78.

Prof Botchwey, a leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress, is well respected by Ghanaians across the political divide.

Profile of the late Prof Kwesi Botchwey:

Prof Kwesi Botchwey was born on 3 September 1944. He attended his secondary school education at the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School in Ghana.

Later on, he earned a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Ghana and then a Master of Laws degree at Yale Law School in the USA.

The late economist and finance minister held a doctorate degree from the University of Michigan Law School in the USA.

Prior to becoming a finance minister, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey was a lecturer at the University of Zambia, the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and the University of Ghana.

He also served as an advisor to World Bank on the 1997 World Development Report.

Prof. Botchwey had vast expertise in economic management as he was a member and Chairman of IMF‘s Group of Independent Experts who conducted the first-ever external evaluation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility under the Fund.

He also served as an advisor to the UNDP‘s UN Special Initiative on Africa and an advisor to the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM).

View the president’s post below:

IB/BOG