Past Ministers

KOMLA AGBELI GBEDEMAH

Tenure: 1954 -1961

Komla Agbeli Gbedemah (1913 –1998) was a Ghanaian politician and Minister for Finance in Ghana’s Nkrumah government between 1954 and 1961. Known popularly as “Afro Gbede”, he was an indigene of Anyako in the Volta Region of Ghana. Gbedemah was originally a member of the United Gold Coast Convention. He left with Dr Kwame Nkrumah to form the Convention People’s Party (CPP). Gbedemah was an important member of the CPP because of his organizational ability. He was influential in getting Nkrumah elected to the Legislative Council on 8 February 1951 at the Elections for the Legislative Assembly. He organized Nkrumah’s entire campaign while Nkrumah was still in prison, detained by the colonial government. Nkrumah duly won the Accra Central Municipal seat. This led to Nkrumah being released on 12 February 1951 and his being invited to form a government. Gbedemah is in some reports named as being the first to welcome Nkrumah after his release from Fort James prison.

Gbedemah, who himself got elected into the Legislative Assembly, became the first Ghanaian Minister for Health and Labour in Nkrumah’s government. In 1954, he became the Minister of Finance, a position he held for seven years. He was influential in getting an initially reluctant United States government to back the building of the Akosombo Dam. Gbedemah formed and led the National Alliance of Liberals into the 1969 general election. His campaign slogan “Say it loud, I am black and proud!” was taken from the popular James Brown tune. After the election, Gbedemah was barred from taking his seat in parliament. This followed a Supreme Court ruling, upholding the NLC barring members of the CPP accused of financial crimes from holding public office for ten years. This decision led him to retire from active involvement in politics.

KWESI AMOAKO-ATTA

Tenure: 1964 -1966

Kwesi Amoako-Atta (1920 – 1983) was a Ghanaian banker and politician. During the First Republic, he served as the Minister for Finance from 1964 to 1966. He also served as a member of parliament for the Akim Abuakwa West constituency from 1964 to 1965 and the Kade constituency from 1965 to 1966. Prior to politics, Amoako-Atta was a banker. He worked with the Bank of British West Africa and the Bank of the Gold Coast (now Ghana Commercial Bank) prior to his appointment as deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana. He was the deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1960 until 1964 when he resigned to enter politics. At the age of 16 he was employed by the Bank of British West Africa as a clerk. While working at the bank, he studied banking and obtained his Diploma in Banking in 1945. He began studies for an external degree from the University of London but was unable to complete his course. While at the bank, he succeeded in organising his colleagues into a trade union and from 1945 to 1949 he was the Secretary of the Bank Employees Union and General Secretary when there was a split in the Union. In 1949 he was promoted to managerial status, this made him one of the first three Africans to attain this feat. As a manager, he was assigned to the Credit Department of the High Street Branch of the bank as its manager. In March 1953 he resigned from the bank and joined the Bank of the Gold Coast (now Ghana Commercial Bank). He was the foreign exchange and credit manager at the bank until 1957 when he was appointed assistant manager to the bank.

In 1958 he gained a travelling scholarship and was attached to various banking institutions at various periods. These banking institutions were: The Workers’ Bank (Bank Hapoalim) in Tel Aviv, The Central Bank of Israel in Jerusalem, Glyn Mills and Company in London, the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh, Agricultural Mortgage Corporation then in London and the Scottish Investment Institution. From 1958 to 1960 he was attached to the Messrs J. Henry Schroder Banking Corporation in New York City, and to the Bank Leumi Le-Israel in Tel Aviv, Israel. In July 1960 he was appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and he held this office until 30 April 1964 when he resigned to enter politics.

Amoako-Atta became a member of parliament in 1964 replacing Michael Reynolds Darku-Sarkwa (who died that same year) as Member of Parliament for the Akim Abuakwa West Constituency. He was elected unopposed in the parliamentary by-election on the ticket of the Convention People’s Party. That same year he was appointed Minister for Finance and in 1965 he became the member of parliament for the Kade constituency. He served in this capacity while doubling as the Minister for Finance until February 1966 when the Nkrumah government was overthrown.

In the post Nkrumah regime, he held various public posts such as serving as a Financial consultant to Tata Brewery in 1974 and serving in the National Redemption Council (NRC) government as a consultant on matters affecting socialist countries from 1973 to 1976.

Emmanuel Noi Omaboe

Tenure: 1966 -1969

Oyeeman Wereko Ampem II, born Emmanuel Noi Omaboe, (1930 – 2005) was a Ghanaian civil servant, businessman and traditional ruler. He was Gyaasehene of Akuapem and Ohene of Amanokrom from 1975 till his death in 2005. He served as Commissioner for Economic Affairs in Ghana from 1967 to 1969 and Government Statistician from 1960 to 1966. In 1957, he joined the University College of Ghana as an economics research fellow and gave lectures in Statistics. In 1959, he was appointed the deputy government statistician. In 1960, he was elected a member of the International Statistical Institute, and became the first African member of the institute. He was a member of the American Statistical Association and a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. He was promoted to Government Statistician in July 1960 due to the Africanization policy of the civil service by Kwame Nkrumah. Omaboe was the first Ghanaian to hold this position, and at the age of 29, the youngest head of a government department.

Omaboe was census coordinator for the 1960 Population Census which was the first scientifically conducted population census in Ghana. In October 1961, the State Planning Commission was constituted by Kwame Nkrumah with Omaboe as its chairman and Joseph Henry Mensah assisting him. The State Planning Commission brought about and worked on the Seven-Year Development Plan (1963–1970), which was formally launched in 1964. In 1974, he partnered Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey and Peter Hasford in the purchase of the advertising firm, Lintas West Africa and Afromedia Ghana from Unilever. He became chairman of Lintas W.A, immediately after the purchase and was chairman until 2005. In 1980 he joined the United Nations Investment Committee which guides the investments of the pension funds and other trust and special funds under U. N. control. In 1997, he became chairman of the investment committee, staying as chairman for the next eight years and made a member emeritus at the end of his service in 2005.

He served as chairman of Reiss & Co. (Ghana) Ltd., a technical trading house with divisions in agriculture, veterinary, information technology and industrial safety supplies. He was chairman of the governing council of the University of Ghana Medical School from 1984 to 1999, succeeding Harry Sawyerr, the first chairman. In 1999, he was nominated chancellor of University of Ghana. He was the first Ghanaian other than a head-of-state to be nominated as chancellor of the university. In 2004, he procured a rare collection of Ashanti Gold weights from a vendor in Germany, and donated the collection to the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana as a private deed of gift to promote cultural education within the university.

ROBERT GARDINER

Tenure: 1975-1978

Robert Kweku Atta Gardiner was born on 29 September 1914 in Kumasi, Gold Coast, into the Fante tribe. His double middle name translated from the Fante dialect means “male twin born on Wednesday”. He was one of eight children of Phillip H.D. Gardiner and Nancy Torraine Ferguson, both successful merchants. Gardiner studied at St. Syprian Anglican School in Kumasi before attending Adisadel College in Cape Coast, where in 1934 he was Head Prefect. He also attended Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and the University of Cambridge’s Selwyn College, graduating from the latter in 1941. Gardiner then studied at the University of London and Oxford University’s New College.

After completing his studies, Gardiner secured a position as an economics professor at Fourah Bay College and helped to establish its Department of Commercial and Social Studies. In late 1946 he assisted a British delegation at an international conference on education in Paris. Later that year he was hired by Ralph Bunche to work as an area specialist for the United Nations Trusteeship Council with a focus on West Africa in the Section of Territorial Research and Analysis.

In 1955 he was made Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing. Following the Gold Coast’s independence as Ghana in 1957, Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah appointed Gardiner Establishment Secretary, making him the head of the Ghana Civil Service. During Gardiner’s tenure the two frequently clashed. According to observers, the disagreements between them stemmed from their differing personalities; Gardiner was pragmatic, while Nkrumah was idealistic.

In 1958 Gardiner was serving as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. Nkrumah considered dispatching him as high commissioner to Pretoria, South Africa, but the idea was ultimately discarded, in part due to the difficulties in finding Gardiner’s children the means to earn an education in the region. Late in his tenure he dismissed his sister from her nursing position for an unexcused extended leave of absence, straining his family ties. He later said, “I had no choice. Her action was clearly contrary to the regulations.”

In 1959 Gardiner was dismissed by Nkrumah for unknown reasons. In May he accepted a nomination to the post of Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

In October 1975 Gardiner left UNECA and returned to Ghana. On 14 October he was appointed Commissioner for Economic Planning for the Supreme Military Council. Two years later the government dispatched him to Nairobi in an attempt to improve relations between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and salvage the financially troubled East African Railways and Harbours Corporation. He also personally involved himself in anti-corruption efforts in the port of Takoradi. He resigned in May 1978, citing concern for his health. According to Africa Confidential, there were rumours that Gardiner had resigned in an attempt to distance himself from Ignatius Kutu Acheampong’s economically unstable regime.

Dr. J. L. S. Abbey

Tenure: 1978-1979

Joseph Leo Seko Abbey was a Ghanaian economist, politician, and diplomat. He served as Ghana’s Commissioner for Economic Planning from 1978 to 1979. He was Ghana High Commissioner to Canada from 1984 to 1986, Ghana High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1986 to 1990, and Ghana Ambassador to the United States of America from 1990 to 1994. Abbey was born on 15 August 1940 in Accra, Gold Coast. He is the son of Robert Mensah Abbey, a Ghanaian politician and Member of Parliament during the first republic. Abbey had his secondary education at Mfantsipim School and later entered the London School of Economics in 1961 where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1964. In 1965, he enrolled at the Iowa State University for his graduate studies in statistics. In 1967 he was awarded a master’s degree in statistics, and in 1968 he was awarded his doctorate degree in statistics.[1][3] In 1971 he joined the University of Western Ontario as an Associate Research Fellow. In 1973, he obtained a master’s degree in economics from the university. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the London School of Economics, he joined the Central Bureau of Statistics as an Assistant Statistical Officer. Following his studies at the Iowa State University, Abbey joined the University of Ghana as a lecturer in economics. From 1973 to 1974, he worked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in New York as a research fellow. Upon his return to Ghana in 1974, he appointed by the then Supreme Military Council (SMC) government to serve in the Economic Planning Commission while doubling as a government statistician and economist. Following the retirement of Robert K. A. Gardiner in May 1978, Abbey was appointed Commissioner for Economic Planning (now Minister for Finance). He held this post until September 1979.

He was a member of the economic team that was responsible for the 1981–1982 budget that was rejected by parliament. According to parliament, the budget was “unrealistic and did not address the problems of the country”. He later became the chairman of the Premier Bank and an economic consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Following the 31 December 1981 coup d’état by Jerry John Rawlings, Abbey was appointed member of the National Economic Review Committee, he served in this capacity from 1982 to 1983. In June 1983 he became the Executive Secretary of the Policy Monitoring and Implementation Committee, and also acting Secretary for Trade in the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government. During the 1983 drought period, he played a major role in launching Ghana’s Economic Recovery Programme, 1983–1986, a programme that advocated the use of orthodox financial and fiscal means to tackle the crippling economy. According to him “Ghana had been declared a “worst case situation” by the World Bank. But the Bank and the IMF were prepared to help in return for serious economic restructuring”. He later requested for a diplomatic appointment and on 6 March 1984, he was appointed Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada. He held this post until 30 September 1986 when he was made Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. On 17 December 1990 he was appointed Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States of America. He served in this capacity until 11 August 1994.

Prof. George Benneh

Tenure: O5/1981-12/1981

George Kwabena Effah Benneh FGA, OSG (1934 –2021) was a Ghanaian geographer, academic and university administrator who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon from 1992 to 1996. He was a professor and later an emeritus professor of Geography and Resource Development at the same university. Between May and December 1981, he served as the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning under Hilla Limann. After the June 1979 and December 1981 coups d’état, both led by Jerry John Rawlings, he was jailed without trial by the junta on allegations of corruption. He spent a total of ten weeks in prison before being set free by the coup leadership as military investigators had been unable to adduce any evidence of malfeasance. A member of the Bono ethnic group, George Benneh in the small town of Jamdede, about a kilometre from Berekum on the then Gold Coast, now Ghana. His father was Isaac William Benneh, a Convention People’s Party politician during the First Republic under the Nkrumah government, who served as the Minister for Rural Industries and the Member of Parliament for Berekum. Benneh studied at Achimota College during his secondary years from 1950 and 1956 where he obtained the GCE Ordinary Level (1954) and GCE Advanced Level (1956) certificates. As a student, George Benneh served as the Catholic Chapel Prefect, working closely with the parish chaplain.

In 1957, he was among 4 students who were selected nationally and awarded the Shell Ghana Independence Scholarship for university studies at the University College of Ghana, then a constituent college of the University of London from where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography in 1960. At Legon, he captained the University of Ghana Athletics Team from 1958 to 1959. Between 1961 and 1964, he did his postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics, after which he was awarded a PhD in Geography. At the beginning of his career, just before his doctoral studies, he taught geography at Achimota School in 1961. Benneh was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Ghana, Legon in 1964, Senior Lecturer in 1973, Associate Professor in 1976 and Full Professor in 1989. As a university administrator, he served as the chairman of the Department of Geography and Resource Development, senior tutor of the Commonwealth Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Director of Population Impact Project funded by the USAID. Benneh was appointed at Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana in 1992 and retired in 1996. Benneh became an emeritus professor of Geography and Resource Development after his stint as a vice-chancellor. Additionally, he was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Denmark in 1973, 1983 and in 1996. In 1982, he was a Senior Fulbright Hays Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography at the University of Pittsburgh and also, Visiting Professor, Department of Geography and Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Economic Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Under the auspices of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, he was a distinguished visiting professor and guest speaker at the 50th Anniversary of the Fulbright Hayes Fellowship Anniversary Conference in Atlanta, in 1996. In 1997, he was the John Cadbury Fellow at the Centre for West African Studies at the University of Birmingham, and a Visiting Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. George Benneh authored over 13 books and booklets and 70 other publications in Geography, Environment, Land Tenure and Land Use, Population, Education and Public Administration. Some of his books include A New Geography of Ghana (1970) and Technology Should Seek Tradition: Studies on Traditional Land Tenure and Small Holder Farming Systems in Ghana (2011). He was a contributor to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Prof. KWESI BOTCHWEY

Tenure 1982-1995

Dr. Kwesi Botchwey Botchwey received his secondary school education at the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School and attended St. Augustine’s College. Dr. Kwesi Botchwey holds a Bachelor of Law degree (LLB) from the University of Ghana, a Masters’s degree in Law (LLM) from Yale Law School, and a Doctorate degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He taught at the University of Zambia, the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and the University of Ghana. Dr. Botchwey joined the HIID in 1996 as a Development Advisor and was appointed the Director of Africa Research and Programs at HIID and the CID. Member and Convener Team of academics from Yale, Oxford, and the Free University of Amsterdam that conducted and finished the first External evaluation at the request of the Executive Board of the IMF, of the Fund’s Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF).

He was a member, Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons for the Facilitation of the Signing of the Uruguay Round of Gatt Negotiations. Member OECD group of high-level experts for the review of the OECD study on “Globalization and Linkages to 2020: Challenges and Opportunities for OECD countries (1996). Member Commonwealth Expert Group on Good Governance and the Elimination of Corruption in Economic Management. Member Panel of High-Level Personalities on African Development – an advisory group established to assist the UN Secretary-General in advocating greater support for African development and in coordinating the UN system’s activities in the region. Board Chairman for Heritage bank Ghana.

In the 13 years, he was minister, he helped Ghana attain stability and become one of the fastest-growing economies in West Africa. During the period he was minister, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey also served as a development advisor at the Harvard Institute for International Development. In 1998, he became the Director of African Programmes Research, where he delivered a lecture on Managing Economic Reform in Low-Income Countries.

As of 2002, Kwesi Botchwey has been a Senior Research Scholar at the Centre for Globalisation and Sustainable Development, the Earth Institute, and Columbia University (USA). He has also served on numerous boards and committees dealing with international and African development. As a consultant, his services were widely sought by major international institutions, including the World Bank and UNDP. Prof Botchwey recently served as a chairman of a panel of eminent persons appointed by the UN Secretary-General to review the UN-New Agenda for Africa’s Development in the 1990s (UN-WADAF).

As an academic, he has participated in several publications such as Growth and Poverty Alleviation in Africa, Globalization: What has it meant for Africa and what does the future portend, Ownership of National Development Programs and Mobilizing Capital Flows in Support of Accelerated Development.

Ing. Yaw Osafo Maafo

Tenure: 2001-2005

Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo is a Ghanaian politician, engineer and banker who served in the portfolio of Senior Minister of the Republic of Ghana in the Nana Akufo-Addo Administration.

Yaw Osafo-Maafo was born in Akyem Awisa in 1942. He attended Akyem Awisa Presbyterian School and then to Achimota Senior High School. He went on to study Mechanical Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

At KNUST he was the Vice President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS). He established his credentials in the banking and finance sector by heading and successfully restructuring two major Ghanaian banks, the Bank for Housing and Construction, and the National Investment Bank between 1979 and 1992.

He has been a Consultant to the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme. He is the past Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the West African Bankers’ Association, and a founding Deputy Chairman of the Ghana Stock Exchange.

He has served as Chairman and a board member on a number of corporations including Nestle Ghana Limited, National Trust Holding Company, Merchant Bank Ghana Limited, National Development Planning Commission, Divestiture Implementation Committee and Donewell Insurance. He stepped down after serving as a Member of Parliament for Akim Oda Constituency in the Eastern Region of Ghana, for three terms. He is a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Architects.

He is a former Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Ghana.

He was appointed Minister of Finance in February 2001 and later Minister of Education and Sports during the Kufuor Administration. He held this position until January 2005. At the Ministry of Finance, he oversaw the dramatic turnaround of the Ghanaian economy. In November 2001, he was named Finance Minister of the year with his Canadian counterpart Paul Martin by the World Economic Forum and Finance Minister of the year 2001, Africa, by Banker Magazine, a Financial Times publication.

Between 2005 and 2006 he was Minister of Education and Sports, where he commenced the implementation of major education sector reforms aimed at improving the quality of basic, secondary and tertiary education. The reforms also sought to align the education system with the needs of the broader economy. He implemented the new free basic education referred to as the Capitation Grant.

With respect to sports, his reorganization and restructuring of the finances and management of football in the country played a significant part in helping Ghana qualify for the 2006 World Cup. This was the first time Ghana had done so in her history.

Hon. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu

Tenure: 2005-2008

Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (1952 – 2008) was a Ghanaian politician and a chartered accountant. He was Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Ghana for Asante Akim North Constituency from January 1997 until his death on September 24, 2008. He served as a Minister of state at different ministries under the Kufuor government from 2001. Baah-Wiredu was born in Asante Akim Agogo. He started his secondary education at the Kumasi High School, Kumasi in 1967. He obtained the GCE Ordinary Level Certificate in 1972. He had his sixth form education at Prempeh College, also in Kumasi. Baah-Wiredu proceeded to the University of Ghana in 1974 and obtained a B.Sc. in Administration (Accounting option). He then did a four-year course with the Institute of Chartered Accountants qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1985. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu worked within various positions with Ghana Airways and Volta River Authority. He worked as a senior consultant on computer-systems and as finance manager of Ananse Systems. Prior to being a member of Parliament, he was a partner in Asante Wiredu and Associates, an accounting firm.[ He became a Minister in John Kufuor’s NPP government in 2001. He held the portfolios of Local Government and Rural Development (2001–2003) and Education, Youth and Sports (2003–2005).He became the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in 2005. In 2005, he was the first Finance Minister in Ghana’s history to present the country’s Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament before the arrival of that fiscal year with his budget for the fiscal year 2006. Since then, this has become a norm for all successive Finance Ministers. In the year 2000, Baah-Wiredu won the general elections as the member of parliament for the Asante Akim North constituency of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He won on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party. His constituency was a part of the 31 parliamentary seats out of 33 seats won by the New Patriotic Party in that election for the Ashanti Region. The New Patriotic Party won a majority total of 99 parliamentary seats out of 200 seats. He was elected with 32,341 votes out of 45,227 total valid votes cast. This was equivalent to 72.3% of the total valid votes cast. He was elected over Kofi Opoku Manu of the National Democratic Congress, Kwabena Anafi of the Convention People’s Party, James K. Baah of the People’s National Convention, Emmanuel K. Adade of the New Reformed Party and Joseph B Frimpong of the United Ghana Movement.

One of Mr Baah Wiredu’s first acts was to present a budget indicating his commitment to fiscal prudence. He also backed moves to remove subsidies on fuel prices, a necessary but painful policy. An accountant by training, Mr Baah Wiredu faced significant challenges to implement so-called “second generation” reforms. He and his team worked to stabilize the economy and put it to endure a fast but sustainable growth. He was a likeable and pleasant personality. He was sorely missed by his staff and countrymen when he regrettably transitioned whilst in office in September 2008.

Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei

Tenure: 09/2008- 01/2009

Anthony Akoto Osei (1953 – 2023) was a Ghanaian banker and politician. Osei was in the cabinet of President John Agyekum Kufuor first as Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning and then Acting Minister of Finance. He was a member of Parliament for the electoral district of Old Tafo in the Ashanti region. Osei was born in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, on 18 April 1953. 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. He earned a Master of Arts degree in applied economics from the American University in the USA. He also graduated from Howard University in 1987 with a PhD in economics.

Osei was an economist by profession. On 27 March 2002, Osei became a member of the management board of Merchant Bank (Ghana) Ltd. Previously, he worked as associate professor at Dillard University (USA) and before that as a research assistant at the Centre for Policy Analysis (Ghana).

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. He served in that role until 6 January 2009 when the New Patriotic Party handed government over to the opposition National Democratic Congress, which had won the 2008 general election.

In February 2017, 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. Monitoring and Evaluation was a newly created ministry to monitor and plan review summits and forums, in fulfilment of the government’s policies on evaluating the progress of its own ministries. 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; 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).

Dr. Kwabena Duffuor

Tenure: 2009-2013

Kwabena Duffuor was the Finance Minister of Ghana. He has also served as the governor of the Bank of Ghana. He was named as one of the four best Central Bank Governors in the World at an IMF/World Bank meeting in 1999. He is a Fellow of the Akuafo Hall, University of Ghana, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Duffuor is the founder and chairman of HODA Holdings, a business entity comprising Insurance, Banking, Real Estates, Farming, Mining and Media. He is also the founder and president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in Ghana, a non-profit think-tank providing economic advocacy and training which he established in March, 2013. He is also the founder of uniBank which controversially collapsed in 2018. In 1958, Kwabena Duffuor entered Prempeh College in Kumasi for his secondary school education through the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board scholarship, where he obtained both his O-Level and A-Level certificates in 1962 and 1964 respectively. He proceeded to the University of Ghana where he graduated in 1968 with a B. Sc. degree in Economics. And after working briefly with the Volta River Authority, he started his career with the Ghana Commercial Bank in 1969. Between the years 1973 and 1979, while working with GCB Bank, Duffuor obtained a USAID and African Graduate Fellowship Awards to pursue further studies at Syracuse University in New York. He obtained an MBA in Finance and Banking, an MA in economics in 1975 and a PhD in 1979, all from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at the Syracuse University. He was also awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy in International Finance in 1979 at the same university. After working briefly as an economist at the IMF in Washington, Duffuor returned to Ghana and combined his banking work at Ghana Commercial Bank with Lecturing in Economics and Finance at the University of Ghana between 1980 and 1991. Duffuor started work with the Ghana Commercial Bank in 1969, where he rose to become chief economist and head of research department. Between 1982 and 1991, Duffuor worked full-time as a banker. He also worked as a part-time lecturer in economics, finance and banking at the Economics Department and the School of Administration at the University of Ghana. He was appointed an external examiner in finance from 1985 at the university. In 1995, he became deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana. In July 1997, President Jerry Rawlings appointed Duffuor as the governor of the Bank of Ghana. He held this position till his four-year term ended in September 2001.

At Ghana Commercial Bank, he rose through the ranks, becoming general manager and head of London Branch in 1991. Under his tenureship the GCB London Branch registered very impressive growth. The bank’s profits soared from £1.5 million in 1991 to £3.6 million in 1994. Consequently, the Income/Expense ratio dropped from 75per cent in 1991 to 55 per cent by the end of 1994. During the same period Duffuor led a group of international banks including chemical bank (London), standard chartered bank (London) in arranging a syndicated loan of $140 million for Ghana Cocoa Board and $65 million for Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). By 1994 the GCB London had become so visible in the city of London that he was invited to the prestigious Annual Dinner of the Lord Mayor of London at Mansion House on 14 June 1994.

In July 1995, Duffuor was appointed the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, and therefore came back home. As deputy governor he focused on the restructuring of Government Accounts, Human Capital Development, Commercial Banking Services and Treasury Services and Foreign Exchange Market Development of the bank. He again initiated the introduction of two-way quotation system (offer/bid rates in the Foreign Exchange transaction in the bank and thereby removed the subsidy to users of foreign exchange. In 1996, he arranged US$100 million Syndicated Facility with Societe General Bank (London) Branch for the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance.

In July 1997, he was appointed governor of the bank; driving a range of reforms in the bank, including the conversion of Ghana Commercial Bank London Branch into a UK incorporated Bank – Ghana International Bank, plc in March 1998. In November 1997, an honorary fellowship was conferred on Dr Duffuor by the Institute of Bankers in Ghana for his loyal and meritorious service to the banking industry. He was nominated Ghana’s man of the year by the readers of The Independent newspaper.

About MOF

Tenure: 1954 -1961

Tenure: 1961-1964

Tenure: 1964 -1966

Tenure: 1966 -1969

Tenure: 1969 -1972

Tenure: 1975-1978

Tenure: 1978-1979

Tenure: 1979-1981

Tenure: O5/1981-12/1981

Tenure 1982-1995

HON. RICHARD KWAME PEPRAH

Tenure: 1995-2001

Tenure: 2001-2005

Tenure: 2005-2008

Tenure: 09/2008- 01/2009

Tenure: 2009-2013

Tenure: 2013-2017

Ken Ofori-Atta

Tenure: 2017-2024

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KOMLA AGBELI GBEDEMAH

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KWESI AMOAKO-ATTA

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Emmanuel Noi Omaboe

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JOSEPH HENRY MENSAH

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ROBERT GARDINER

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Dr. J. L. S. Abbey

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Prof. KWESI BOTCHWEY

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Ing. Yaw Osafo Maafo

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Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei

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