The late Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei
Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei (18 April 1953 – 20 March 2023) was a Ghanaian banker and politician. He was in the cabinet of President John Agyekum Kufuor first as Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning and then as Acting Minister of Finance. He was a member of Parliament for the electoral district of Old Tafo in the Ashanti region.
He was the nephew of J.H Mensah; who had also served as Minister of Finance and also as Member of Parliament; and Theresa Kufour wife of the former president of Ghana, J.A. K Kufour.
Dr. Osei was born in Sunyani, the capital of the then Brong-Ahafo Region, on 18 April 1953 and he had his secondary level education at Achimota School and Opoku Ware Senior High School. He continued at Oberlin College in Ohio where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in economics before earning his Master of Arts degree in applied economics from the American University in the USA.
He then went on to graduate from Howard University in 1987 with a Ph.D. in economics.
As a keen all-around athlete, Oberlin remembers him even today, for several records in football and track and field which have still not been broken.
An economist by profession, he was made a member of the management board of Merchant Bank (Ghana) Ltd in March 2002 and had previously, worked as an associate professor at Dillard University (USA) and then as a researcher at the Centre for Policy Analysis (Ghana).
Dr. Osei won the elections to serve as a member of parliament for the Old Tafo constituency of the Ashanti Region of Ghana on three separate occasions; in 2004, 2008, and 2012, on the ticket of the NPP. He resigned his seat and did not contest the 2016 elections.
Dr. Osei worked as the deputy minister of Finance and Economic Planning in May 2003 and was an economic advisor to the government. He was elevated to substantive acting Minister for Finance and Economic Planning after the death of the then Minister of Finance, Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, and served in that role until 6 January 2009 when the New Patriotic Party handed the government over to the opposition National Democratic Congress, which had won the 2008 general election.
In February 2017, Akoto Osei was sworn in as Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation after being nominated by President Nana Akufo-Addo and going through the vetting process in the parliament of Ghana. The Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry had been newly created to monitor and plan review summits and forums, in fulfillment of the government's policies on evaluating the progress of its own ministries.
In May 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo named Anthony Akoto Osei as one of 19 ministers who would form his cabinet, and as a member of the president’s inner circle assisted in key decision-making.
Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Accra; consultant to the World Bank (Korean Division), 1987; associate professor in economics at Howard University from 1984 to 1995;[12] Special Advisor, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, 2001–2003; Deputy Minister of Finance, 2003–2007; Minister of State, 2007–2008; Acting Minister of Finance, September 2008 - 6 January 2009; MP for Old Tafo-Pankrono and MP for Old Tafo (January 2005 to January 2017), Special Advisor to the President. (until his passing).
Osei was a Catholic and was married with three children. He died on 20 March 2023 at the age of 69
