George Yaw Gyan-Baffour

George Yaw Gyan-Baffour (born 27 March 1951) is a Ghanaian development economist and politician. He is a former Member of Parliament who represented Wenchi constituency from 2005 to 2021. He was a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., from 1993 to 2001. He is a member of the New Patriotic Party and the former Minister of Planning in Ghana.

Early life and education

Gyan-Baffour was born in Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. He attended the University of Ghana where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He proceeded to Helsinki School of Economics in Finland where he obtained a Diploma in Economics. He later obtained his master's degree and Doctor of Philosophy degrees after enrolling at University of Wisconsin, Madison. He also has a post doctoral diploma from Harvard University. Upon the election victory of the New Patriotic Party in Ghanaian general election in 2000, he returned to Ghana and was appointed by President John Kufour as the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission in 2002. It was during this 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. He believed that the solution to the then economic difficulty the country was going through could be resolved by accessing loans internally. He was elected in the 2004 Ghanaian general elections. He was elected with 18,183 votes out of 33,806 total valid votes cast. In all, the New Patriotic Party won a majority total of 128 parliamentary representation out of a total 230 seats in the 4th parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana. He thus represented the constituency again in the 5th parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana. In all the New Patriotic Party won a minority total of 107 parliamentary representation out of 230 seats in the 5th parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana.

Parliamentary committees

Being an economist, Gyan-Baffour has mainly sat on parliamentary committees that relate to his field. They include: Special Budget Committee; Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee; Education Committee; Poverty Reduction Committee; and acting chair of the Special Budget Committee. The President called him a "respected economist with the right expertise as former head of the National Development Planning Commission". He was charged with translating the New Patriotic Party's election manifesto into workable, achievable targets for national development.

Vetting and swearing in

He was vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament in February 2017. During his vetting, he told the committee that Ghana did not need a 40-year development plan as it promotes rigidity. In his view a plan that was less lengthy would be better and help avoid any restrictions that would be inimical to Ghana's development. He was sworn in by the President Akuffo-Addo on 11 February 2017.

Memberships and affiliations

Gyan-Baffour is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Economists of Ghana. He has been a board member of various Government of Ghana agencies including the Bank of Ghana, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.