Early life

An engineer and a project analyst by training, he established his credentials as a banking and finance leader by heading and successfully restructuring two major Ghanaian banks, the Bank for Housing and Construction and the National Investment Bank between 1979 and 1992.

He has been a Consultant to the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. He is the past Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the West African Bankers Association, and a founding Deputy Chairman of the Ghana Stock Exchange.

He has served as Chairman and a board member on a number of corporations including Nestle Ghana Limited, National Trust Holding Company, Merchant Bank Ghana Limited, National Development Planning Commission, Divestiture Implementation Committee and Donewell Insurance.

Member of parliament

He is a former Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Akim Oda

Akim Oda (Ghana parliament constituency)

Yaw Owusu-Boateng is the member of parliament for the constituency. He was elected on on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party and won a majority of 12,845 votes to become the MP. He succeeded Yaw Osafo-Maafohad represented the constituency in the 4th Republic parliament on the ticket of the New...

, Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

.

Minister for finance and economic planning

He was appointed Minister of Finance in February 2001 and later Minister of Finance and Economic Planning during the Kufuor Administration. He held this position until January 2005. At the Ministry of Finance he oversaw the dramatic turnaround of the Ghanaian economy. In November 2001 he was named Finance Minister of the year with his Canadian counterpart Paul Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

 by the World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....

 and Finance Minister of the year 2001, Africa, by the “Banker Magazine”, a Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

publication.

Minister for education and sports

Between 2005 and 2006 he was Minister of Education and Sports, where he commenced the implementation of major education sector reforms aimed at improving the quality of basic, secondary and tertiary education. The reforms also sought to align the education system with the needs of the broader economy. He implemented the new free basic education referred to as the Capitation Grant.

With respect to sports, his reorganization and restructuring of the finances and management of football in the country played a significant part in helping Ghana qualify for the 2006 World Cup. This was the first time Ghana had done so in her history.

Recent activities

Although no longer serving in the government, Osafo-Maafo campaigned for the New Patriotic Party

New Patriotic Party

-External links:*...

 in the 2008 runoff elections.

Osafo-Maafo is currently working as a consultant for the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

advising the Ministry of Finance and the Legislature of the government of Liberia.
He is a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Architects.

Since leaving the government, he has been critical of Ghana's government on issues such as the salaries paid to government officials and the selling of government lands.