President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has eulogised the late Dr Kwesi Botchwey, former finance minister, describing him as a “fine gentleman and exceptional public servant”.

Dr Botchwey passed away at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on Saturday, 19 November 2022, at the age of 78.

In a Facebook post to mourn the former finance minister, Nana Akufo-Addo who described Dr Botchwey as a friend added that he discharged his duties thoughtfully and with dignity.

The president’s post read: “The death of my good friend, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, is a very sad development. My contemporary, in the mid-1960s, at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Botchwey was a longstanding public servant, who discharged his duties thoughtfully and with dignity, and became Ghana’s longest-serving Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.

“The thoughts and sympathies of my wife, Rebecca, the First Lady, and I are with his partner, children and family. I extend my deepest condolences to them, and also to the National Democratic Congress, of which he was a prominent and much respected member. Ghana has lost a fine gentleman and exceptional public servant.

“May his soul rest in perfect peace in the Bosom of the Almighty until the Last Day of the Resurrection when we shall all meet again. Amen!”

Prof Botchwey first served as finance minister during the military era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) from 1982 to 1991 and then in the constitutional period of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from 1992 to 1995.