Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur
Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has been nominated vice president, confirming a DAILY GUIDE prediction in yesterday’s issue of the paper.
Dr Amissah-Arthur shrugged off a stiff competition from his former boss, Dr Kwesi Botchwey, a former Minister of Finance, to pick the prestigious position.
The decision by President John Mahama is said to have come as a surprise to the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), especially party General Secretary Johnson Asiedu-Nketia and National Organiser Yaw Boateng Gyan.
The two, although did not doubt the loyalty of the nominee as a party person, had reservations about his ability to garner votes for the party, an impetus the party is longing to have at this critical moment.
DAILY GUIDE learnt they preferred Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.
Their position ties in with the one earlier expressed by a certain Dr. Lloyd Amoah of Ashesi University and political analyst who told Joy FM that as a technocrat, the nominee lacked the fire and energy required to win elections.
He said the man had no constituency and would not do much to help the NDC. Regardless of the challenges as pointed out, the president might have his own ideas for settling on the gentleman who was spearheading the rebranding of the new GH¢50 note.
He is said to be the pick of the all-powerful Ahwoi brothers, who had a tight-hold on the departed president.
The position of vice president became vacant following the elevation of the then Vice President John Mahama to the highest position in the country, in consonance with the dictates of the Constitution, when his boss passed away on Tuesday, July 24, 2012.
In fulfilling the constitutional mandate of filling the vacancy created, the president, after tedious horse trading, settled on the governor of the Bank of Ghana.
Although the nomination is not likely to see any serious challenge in parliament, the legislature would deliberate upon it and approve it as a routine procedure.
Article 60(10) of the 1992 Constitution states that “the Vice President shall, upon assuming office as President under clause 6 of this article nominate a person to the office of Vice President subject to approval of Parliament.”
It was a decision which was not devoid of challenges given the several equally qualified card-bearing personalities who announced their availability for consideration.
Barely a day after the death of the Professor Mills, lobbying by a horde of party gurus began; it was almost a scramble, compelling observers to wonder if those involved were not observing the week of mourning declared by the president.
Goosie Tanoh, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey and Mike Hammah were some of the persons whose names popped up on the parapet.
The man, who is now the Number Two man in the country, is assuming office at a time the NDC, DAILY GUIDE has reliably learnt, is desperately seeking an economist who can counter the recent puncturing of the fiscal management of the NDC government by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, a former deputy governor at the Bank of Ghana. Both are in a position to size each other adequately for the usually abrasive political campaign assignments which are about to take off.
Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur is an economist and was appointed by the late President Mills in 2009 when Dr. Paul Acquah exited at the end of eight- year tenure.
He holds a master’s degree in Economics and taught at the University of Ghana, Legon, having had a stint at the Anambra State College of Education, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.
He was a PNDC Deputy Secretary for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, an assignment which he continued to perform when the junta was transformed into a political party, the NDC government, under Rawlings.
By A.R. Gomda
