I’m the main adviser to the president – Amissah-Arthur justifies inclusion

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has justified his re-nomination as President Mahama’s running mate for the 2016 general elections, boldly declaring himself as the “main adviser to the President”. Mr. Amissah-Arthur’s nomination was confirmed by the President to his party, the NDC on Monday, after several reports and intense lobbying had suggested the President was going to dump him. President Mahama in justifying his choice said Mr. Amissah-Arthur has a good track record and has had a “useful partnership” with him so far, that will give them victory in 2016. id=”aBM7550zDtOezEL2bdJaA2VzCOMpLNKr”]“I consulted with the council of state and nominated Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur my Vice president as my running mate. Reason being he is able and willing to do the job. He’s got a good track record, he’s been deputy minister, he’s been governor of the Central Bank, he’s been my Vice President, indeed he’s been acting president on occasions I’ve been out of the country. I believe that it’s been a useful partnership. We went into 2012 together and I believe that going into 2016 together we will achieve victory,” President Mahama noted. But Mr. Amissah-Arthur, who is not officially known as the President’s advisor, told journalists after his re-nomination that, he may have been retained because of his honesty as the “President’s main adviser.” He first said: “It is an honour and I have gone to see the President to thank him for his re-nomination and committed myself to work with him even more closely than we’ve done in the last three years; and I hope that the Ghanaian people will recognize the work that we have done and renew the mandate of President Mahama for another four years.” What do you think informed the decision to maintain you? “We come from different backgrounds, we have different experiences and different characteristics; we are different people who are compatible… and I think that we’ve been able to work together because the differences have been able to merge in cooperative work. I see the President has a lot of positive attributes and where I am weak he is strong; and I hope that I am also able to add to his strengths.” He added “We have tried to work by discussing in detail, and criticizing indoors. So I let the President know my view on every subject if I have a view. But the President sees many more things than most of us and has access to more information so he has a much broader picture of things. So from the view that I have, I have made him know what I think about a lot of the issues that go on.” Mr. Amissah-Arthur also expressed shock about the hullabaloo that preceded his re-nomination, saying people were ignorant about his close working relationship with the President.

“I have watched and listened carefully to all the various things that have even said in the last few weeks, and I am surprised that people did not realize how closely we’ve worked together; and that’s maybe because we don’t express our differences outside. The President knows where I stand on issues, I know what he wants to achieve and I am able to support the work that he has done.” He emphasized. His Excellency, what do you actually bring on board going into the 2016 elections since this is your second opportunity? I don’t know why you ask me that question; you know I am not the person to blow my own horn and so you have to ask the President what he sees in me. Maybe that will be more acceptable than for me to say what I bring to the table because it’s the President who has made the decision and has asked the party to accept his nomination so I think that next time you meet him [The President], you have to ask the President what he sees.” “But as I said, every President meets a set of challenges; every administration is different; so we are meeting a new set of challenges that are different from the challenges that he met when he assumed the leadership of this country in 2012. And it is the way in which he assesses these challenges and what we can do about them in the short and longer term that will conti9nue to make this country stable and peaceful and make the progress that we want. So it is not something that you decide how you are going to do it at the beginning. It is when the challenges confront you and the way you react to them, that is what helps you to find solutions to them. And so we will continue the same way as open-minded and accessible to people who have ideas to provide the best solutions to all the problems that we face and will continue to face in the future.” What is about you that endears you to President Mahama? “I have tried to be honest in my daily interactions with him about what I consider to be the issues. I have tried to be honest and tell him as best as I can the way I think problems should be handled so if that’s what he finds refreshing then I thank him and I hope that I will be able to be even more honest in the views that I express to him in the future so that together we will be able to find solutions to the many problems that confronts a President that he has to worry about”. Is that why he calls you his adviser?[contextly_sidebar  Yes; I am the main adviser to the President so I try to do an honest job of it; not to make public a lot of the things that we say in private. And as I said, I try to be open as I can with him so that he knows where I stand. And I am grateful that he has given me this opportunity to be of service. And I will continue to serve him to the best of my ability” the Vice President noted.