Who is Prof George Yaw Gyan Baffour, one of the men tipped to take over Ofori-Atta's job?

Although he has not clearly stated it, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, however, given a roadmap on the possibility of taking action on a demand made on him by some Members of Parliament. The call by the 80 New Patriotic Party MPs on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, was for the president to sack the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta. As surprising as the news has been, particularly since the minister is a member of their party and this is the first time any such thing has happened in the country, it has already brought up suggestions on who could take over as the country's finance minister. In an earlier GhanaWeb story, three names have come up for the job: Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, Professor Gyan Baffour, and Kwame Pianim. GhanaWeb further places the spotlight on these individuals to understand what they bring to the job, in the instance that they get it. Below is a profile of Professor Gyan Baffour: Prof George Yaw Gyan Baffour is currently the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission and Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Finance. He is a former Member of Parliament who represented the Wenchi Constituency from 2005 to 2021. He was a professor at Howard University in Washington DC from 1993 to 2021. He is an economist, a banker and an insurer. Being an economist, Professor George Gyan Baffour has mainly sat on parliamentary committees that relate to his field, which include the Special Budget Committee, the Education Committee, and the Poverty Reduction Committee, and he was once the Acting Chair of the Special Budget Committee. The ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor appointed Prof George Gyan Baffour as the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission in 2002. It was during his time that he established the first system for overseeing and assessing the rate of national development. He oversaw the development of the coordinated program for the Economic and Social Development of Ghana. Prof George Gyan Baffour is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Economists of Ghana. He was a member of various boards, including the Bank of Ghana (2005-2008), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from 2003 to 2005. He has a PhD in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a post-Doctorate Diploma from Harvard University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Bsc (Hons) in Economics from the University. Prof George Gyan Baffour is currently a Senior Policy Advisor to the Finance Minister, focusing mainly on Sustainable Development Goals and climate change mitigation financing. He is the UN Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data Ambassador in the UN's SUN movement focal person for Ghana and Executive Committee Excom Member representing Central and Eastern Africa. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Ghana in March 2005. As a Minister For Planning, he was the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on SDGs. Watch the latest episode of People&Places on GhanaWeb TV below: You can also watch this episode of People & Places: AE/BOG