President Mahama has chosen Governor of the Bank of Ghana as as his Vice-President.- IMANI's View

President Mahama has chosen Governor of the Bank of Ghana as as his Vice-President.

This is what IMANI thought about him and still thinks of him.  In 2010,IMANI voted Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Governor of the Bank of Ghana as the most inspirational public sector leader with the following citation.

"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.

  Despite pressure from 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.

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.

  In the words of Friedman, “inflation everywhere is a monetary phenomenon”. What this quip means in this context is that the Governor’s conduct of monetary policy has more than contributed to the era of stable inflation and the stable national currency.

His attitude to his duties has helped stem the loss of investor confidence that marked the early months of 2009. He may be dour, but only in a manner quite becoming of a guy who has his fingers on the nation’s purse strings".

Mr. Kofi Bentil, IMANI's Vice-President says "Amissah-Arthur is fantastic choice, has the potential to reach out to the middle-class and the intellectual community which the ruling NDC has in its recent life greatly distanced itself. He has what it takes to mend the broken bridges within the ruling party".

We also remember vividly the Governor's invitation to IMANI to discuss the viability of E-zwich payment system which was introduced under the previous government, but for which we thought was not going to make the impact promised.

It was a very respectful and cordial meeting with all his deputies.We do hope that the current Communication and Legal Teams will see significant changes in form and substance in accordance with what is looking like the character of a befitting duo (President Mahama and Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur.) in readiness for electoral battle with Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia of the leading opposition party.

MANI Center for Policy & Education is a Think Tank of considerable local and international repute and significance. We have carved a niche in Ghana’s policy environment for putting out objective, independent analysis and critique on many issues, using tried and tested techniques that apply across different disciplines.