A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Tafo in the Ashanti Region, Dr Anthony Osei Akoto has reportedly passed on.
The Facebook Page of Parliament on Monday, March 20, 2023 broke the sad news about the 69 year-old former Minister for Monitoring.
However, information on the death of the former Minister of State for Finance under the Kufuor administration are readily unavailable.
“Former Old Tafo MP, Hon. Dr Anthony Akoto Osei passes away. May he rest in peace,” Parliament posted on it social media handle.
Dr. Akoto Osei was an Economist by profession. On 27 March 2002, he became a member of the management board of Merchant Bank (Ghana) Ltd. Previously, he worked as an associate professor at Dillard University (USA) and previously as a research assistant at the Center for Policy Analysis (Ghana).
Osei worked as Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in May 2003 and was a major economic adviser to the government. He was elevated to substantive Minister for Finance and Economic Planning after the death of the then Minister Kwadwo Baah Wiredu.
He served in that role until 6 January 2009 when the government was handed over to the National Democratic Congress which had won the 2008 General Elections.
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.
The ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation was a newly created Ministry to evaluate, monitor and plan review summits and forums in fulfilment of the government’s policies on evaluating the progress of its own ministries.
In May 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo named Anthony Akoto Osei as part of the nineteen ministers who would form his cabinet. The names of the 19 ministers were submitted to the Parliament of Ghana and announced by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Prof. Mike Oquaye.
As a Cabinet minister, Anthony Akoto Osei was part of the inner circle of the president and aided in key decision-making activities in the country.
After quiting Parliament and losing his ministerial portfolio he was appointed a presidential advisor until his death.
By Vincent Kubi