Former Finance Minister Prof. Kwesi Botchwey is dead

A former Finance Minister of Ghana, Professor Kwesi Botchwey has been reported dead, according to Accra-based Asaase Radio.

According to the portal, the 78-year-old former finance minister passed away on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where he was said to have been receiving medical care.

Prof. Kwesi Botchwey is a well-respected economist and governance expert who served during the military era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) (1982 to 1991) and the constitutional period of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) (1992 to 1995)

He is known as one of the country’s longest-serving Finance Ministers.

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 the Yale Law School in the USA.

The late economist and finance minister holds 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).