[ 2012-08-03 ]

The late President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills

Mills chose Kwesi Amissah-Arthur - report
The choice of Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur as
Vice President was in fulfillment of the departed
President John Evans Atta Mills' last wishes, a
close source at the Castle has revealed to The
Finder newspaper.

In the aftermath of the economist cum banker's
choice by President John Dramani Mahama, there
have been a number of speculations about how the
genial economist beat his former boss, Dr Kwesi
Botchwey, to the post.

The Finder's investigation has, however, uncovered
that before Mills' trip to the United States on
health grounds he had indicated that he would want
the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to deputise him-
President John Evans Atta Mills- should he pass
away.

Our sources confirmed reports that President
Mahama had originally tended towards picking a
female candidate for the position, but discarded
that in order to fulfill his former mentor's
wishes.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur is slated for vetting and
approval by Parliament on Monday. He is generally
expected to sail through the process smoothly.

His near anonymity in the rough and tumble of
Ghanaian politics could both be an advantage and a
disadvantage.

On one hand, he has not been associated with any
malfeasance in his public service; on the other,
his every action from now onwards will define him
for the public.

With the country's macroeconomic stability shaken
in the last several months by reduced export
earnings and increased government expenditure, his
economic background could certainly come in handy
in helping to limit further damage and setting
clear policies for a better and more sustainable
growth.

By his long association with the Provisional
National Defence Council (PNDC) and the National
Democratic Congress (NDC-I) as Deputy Minister of
Finance and Economic Planning, and as Governor of
the Bank of Ghana under NDC-II, he certainly has a
lot of experience with economic management.

The clearest endorsement of the new Veep so far
has come from the think-tank IMANI, which
described the governor as a fantastic choice.

"The governor impressed us with his conduct of the
affairs of the Monetary Policy Committee in
particular, though there is evidence that other
aspects of the bank's work, such as banking
inspection, have also improved," Vice President of
IMANI, Kofi Bentil said in a statement shortly
after news broke about the nomination of Mr.
Amissah-Arthur.

The statement also indicated that the governor
could bring more votes to the NDC, describing him
as someone with "the potential to reach out to the
middle-class and the intellectual community."

IMANI in 2010 voted Mr. Amissah-Arthur as the most
inspirational public sector leader.

The group's citation stated that the governor has
shown an ability to resist political pressures in
setting bank policies.

"Despite pressure from the political forces to go
beyond moral suasion in compelling the banks to
reduce interest rates, the governor has been
unwavering in going where the evidence leads".

It added, "Diplomatically, he has rebuked the
government to pay the contractors and stop
dithering since this has an effect on
non-performing loans in the system, and by
extension lending rates."

The group even saw the former governor as someone
who had what "it takes to mend the broken bridges
within the ruling party."

Source - The Finder

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