Mills chose Kwesi Amissah-Arthur - report

The late President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills

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."