21st December 2022 10:16:02 AM
3 mins readFormer Finance Minister, Professor Kwesi Botchwey, who died at age 80, will be laid to rest on Thursday, December 22, 2022.
0
He passed away on November 19, 2022, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, after battling a short illness.
1
Per reports, the burial service will take place at the forecourt of the State House, Accra, at exactly 9am.
2
On Monday, December 19, Parliament paid tribute to the former minister who served the country from 1982 to 1995 under the administration of late former President Jerry John Rawlings.
3
A one-minute silence was observed and hsi tributes later poured in.
4
Speaker Alban Bagbin noted that Professor Botchwey inspired him to work laboriously to be at his current position.
5
“And it is some of them who inspired us to where we are. He has a sharp brain, he was flashy…and a man who was a true Ghanaian,” he said.
6
He advocated for the creation of a period to celebrate great men and women who have aided the development of the nation.
7
Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, eulogised the late minister, noting that “his contribution to Ghana’s economic development as one of the longest serving Ministers of Finance, is more visible than any other.”
8
With regards to politics, he said Professor Botchwey was an adorable politician who aided him in his journey to state governance.
9
“I am an ardent mentee of Prof Kwesi Botchway,” Mr Iddrisu emphasised.
10
First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu and the Deputy Majority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin spoke highly of the deceased due to some programmes he undertook.
11
12
The late Prof Botchwey introduced the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) and adopted a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) locally dubbed the Economic Recovery Program (ERP).
13
The ERP sought to reduce Ghana's debts and to improve its trading position in the global economy.
14
The Programme came in three phases. Commencing in 1983, the government focused on reducing its expenditures while creating incentives for private production.
15
According to reports, the initial expenditure cuts and improved tax collection brought the budget deficit down from 6.3 percent of GDP in 1982 to 0.1 percent by 1986.
16
During the second phase, which lasted from 1987 to 1989, the government engaged in privatization and instituted foreign exchange reforms to devalue the cedi further.
17
The black market was nearly eliminated with the introduction of foreign exchange bureaus in 1988, reports have it.
18
In the ERP's third phase, the government intensified monetary reforms and reduced private corporate taxes to boost private-sector growth.
19
According to the Ofoase-Ayirebi legislator, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, these initiatives helped stabilized the economy.
20
“Mr Speaker, some of the most difficult period of our economic history, Prof. Botchwey was the man responsible for fiscal policies and key among the things that he was responsible for ensuring the successes were revenue measures, some of which were not popular with the people of Ghana at the time that he was introducing them. But over the years, I think many will agree that his service to this Republic is one that ought to be celebrated,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah is quoted by GNA to have said.
21
Source: The Independent Ghana
22
2 mins read
1 min read
2 mins read
1 min read
2 mins read
2 mins read
2 mins read
1 min read
3 mins read