Mills had trust in Amissah-Arthur

August 8, 2012 (Page 16) A former Director of Communications of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Seth Ohene Ofori, has described the Vice President nominee, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as competent and capable of assisting the President to steer the affairs of the country. Describing criticisms of the President John Daramani Mahama’s, selection of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) as his Vice President as “misplaced”, Mr Ohene explained that Mr Amissah-Arthur was a chief fundraiser who had contributed immensely to the achievements of the NDC. In a telephone interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Ofori further pointed out that the late President J. E. A. Mills had immense trust in Mr Amissah-Arthur. Mr Ofori-Ohene, who is also a former Press Secretary to the late President, stated that Prof. Mills had on a number of occasions described Mr Amissah as a gentleman, chief strategist and fund raiser. “I can attest to that,” he added and said it was, therefore, unfortunate for some Ghananains to criticize Mr Amissah-Arthur without any basis. “Mr Amissah-Athur was part of a whole policy process in the drafting of the manifesto for the NDC. He also followed the late Prof. Mills on his campaign rounds on many occasions. He is a true party man,” Mr Ofori-Ohene emphasized. Hammering the achievements of Mr Amissah-Arthur, Mr Ofori-Ohene held that the Vice President designate was an accomplished banker who had contributed immensely to the growth of the economy. He accordingly commended President Mahama for appointing Mr Amissah-Arthur as his Vice President. The Appointments Committee of Parliament is expected to vet Mr Amissah-Arthur on Monday August 6, 2012. In accordance with the 1992 Constitution, President Mahama was sworn into office on July 24, 2012 as President of the Republic of Ghana six hours after Prof. Mills had passed on. Mr Amissah-Arthur was born at Cape Coast, the capital of the Central Region of Ghana. He completed his secondary education at the Mfantsipim School where he obtained the GCE Ordinary Level in 1969 and the GCE Advanced Level in 1971. He proceeded to the University of Ghana at Legon where he obtained the B.Sc. in 1974 and M.Sc. in 1976, both in Economics. He lectured at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana between 1980 and 1988. Prior to this, he was in the same department first as a teaching assistant from 1977 to 1978 and then as an assistant lecturer in 1979. He was into politics until 1997 when he worked as a Consultant for the World Bank in The Gambia. He also served as a consultant for the Netherlands government Education project in Ghana. Mr Amissah-Arthur also worked as Senior Economist for the Sigma One Corporation in Ghana between 1998 and 2000. Between 2001 and 2002, he was on assignment for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. He also served as a special assistant to the PNDC Secretary of Finance and Economic Planning, Kwesi Botchwey in the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) government from 1983 to 1986. He became a Deputy Secretary for Finance in the PNDC government from 1986 and further continued as the Deputy Minister for Finance in then President J. J. Rawlings government after the establishment of constitutional rule from January 1993 until March 1997. Mr Amissah-Arthur was appointed Governor of the BoG in October 2009 by late President Mills. He held this position until July 31, 2012 when he became the Vice President-Designate.