Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu

Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu (1952 – 24 September 2008) was a Ghanaian politician and a Chartered Accountant. He was a Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Ghana 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.

On 24 September 2008, Baah-Wiredu died in South Africa where he had been receiving medical treatment for a short illness.

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.

Baah-Wiredu was one of the campaigners against the Union government (UNIGOV) concept promoted 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 since retained his seat.

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.