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Ghana pays last respect to
Baah-Wiredu
Accra, Nov 6,
Ghanadot/GNA-President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday led
Ghanaians to pay their last respects to the late Mr. Kwadwo
Baah-Wiredu, immediate former Minister of Finance and
Economic Planning, proposing the establishment of a trust
fund in memory the late politician and chartered accountant.
The body of the late Minister, also Member of Parliament for
Asante Akim North, lied in a wooden coffin draped with the
Ghana national colours of red, yellow and green, with a
black star in the yellow, at the Forecourt of the State
House in Accra, ahead of a burial service and private
interment at his hometown, Agogo next Saturday.
The coffin rested under a canopy surrounded by wreaths laid
by the President on behalf of the Government and people of
Ghana; the Speaker of Parliament Mr Ebenezer Hughes; the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning; and the wife, Mrs
Magaret Wiredu.
The Forecourt of the State House in Accra where the funeral
was held became a sea of mourning paraphernalia, in mostly
red and black colours, signifying the deep sense of the
nation's loss of her Finance Minister, who died on September
24, 2008, in a South African Hospital of what was described
as post surgery complications of prostrate cancer.
Tributes from the Presidency, Parliament, Ministry of
Finance and Economic Planning, the wife, and children
re-echoed the affability, industriousness, honesty and
humility characteristics of the life of the Minister, voted
twice as Africa's Best Economics Minister.
The funeral service was interspersed with hymns, elegies,
poems and incantations to celebrate the life of the man who
was called "the action man" by the local press.
President Kufuor's tribute read by Papa Owusu Ankomah,
Minister Trade, Industries and President's Special
Initiatives, observed that the news of the death of the late
Baah Wiredu, who was the first named cabinet when the ruling
New Patriotic Party (NPP) came into power in 2001, shocked
him to the core.
The President recounted how they met under the auspices of
the Danquah-Busia tradition and eulogised Mr Baah-Wiredu as
someone who spoke not just to be heard, but to add value.
"He was not the man who was to make plans in the air. This
was the man whose focus was on Ghana and to make Ghana," the
President said, and praised the efforts of the late Minister
in the establishment of the Bui Dam and affiliate projects.
President Kufuor observed that the late Minister set the
shining example of setting aside April 14 for the filing of
the tax returns of taxes of high profile personalities.
Delivering the sermon, Rt. Rev Abraham Tagoe, the Methodist
Bishop of Accra, reiterated the need for discipline to make
the forthcoming December polls incident free.
He said indiscipline was growing on Ghana motor roads with
resultant carnages, and had also crept into the churches.
Rev Tagoe encouraged Ghanaians to strive against anything
that would hinder the development of the nation, abide by
the rules in the race of life, spiritual discipline and
positive thoughts, and feeding of the mind on virtues,
righteousness and holiness no matter the challenges in life.
"We need to run according to the rules that God has given
us. If we fail to run with the fear of God, we will never
win the race and all will be a chasing after the wind. If we
play by the rules, God will bless us all" Rev Tagoe said,
and enjoined Ghanaians to continue to from where the late
Minister left off.
Born on June 3, 1952 at Agogo, in the Asante Akim North
District in the Ashanti Region, the 56 year old chartered
accountant and politician entered Parliament in 1997 and
remained a parliamentarian until he died.
The late Minister 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 Kufuor's NPP government since 2001.
He has so far held the portfolios of Local Government and
Rural Development (2001-2003) and Education, Youth and
Sports, and died holding the Finance and Economic Planning
portfolio.
The body of Baah-Wiredu will be conveyed to Agogo in the
Ashanti Region for burial on Saturday.
GNA
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