The Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, in the Ashanti Region, Vincent Ekow Assafuah has described his predecessor, the late Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, as a very tolerant individual with a big heart to accommodate everyone.
Dr. Akoto Osei’s death was confirmed on Monday, March 20, 2023, on the official Facebook page of Ghana’s Parliament.
He was the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo Constituency for 16 years and the Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation during President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s first term, from 2017 to 2021.
The Old Tafo legislator tells Citi News about his fondest memories of the late politician.
“We realize that, with the sort of unanimity of love that he had, no one tried contesting him. It was based on that, that after he had worked for 16 years for the good people of Old Tafo, they wanted him to still contest because they felt that he had a lot to offer but due to ill health, he decided to bow out. He has been a very tolerant and patient man, one with a very good and big heart who could accept and swallow anything.”
Details on the passing of the 69-year-old former Finance Minister are readily not known.
“Former Old Tafo MP, Hon. Dr Anthony Osei Akoto passes away. May he rest in peace,” Ghana’s Parliament posted.
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 Ocquaye.
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.
