Amissah-Arthur held the fort

The year 2015 saw the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, undertaking most of his activities within the country.

While President John Mahama had numerous international commitments, his vice ably steered the affairs of state as demanded of him by the 1992 Constitution.

The renomination of Mr Amissah-Arthur to partner President John Mahama, therefore, was no surprise.

For some political watchers the Vice-President has discharged himself credibly to warrant partnering the President again, and that to have nominated any other person would have been “political suicide”.

During his interview on GBC Garden City Radio in Kumasi as part of his ‘Changing Lives and Transforming Ghana’ tour in the Ashanti Region recently, the President lauded

Mr Amissah-Arthur’s invaluable support for him during his tenure as ECOWAS Chairman.

“I enjoy working with my Vice-President. As head of the Economic Planning Committee, my vice has initiated many policy interventions to keep this country running.”

Also as Chairman of the Economic Management Team, Mr Amissah-Arthur held a number of engagements with officials of the World Bank on Ghana’s Extended Credit Facility and the National Development Planning Commission where the outcome of the national economic forum held at Senchi was discussed.

Foreign dignitaries Though working on the quiet, he engaged with a number of envoys at the Flagstaff House, some of whom called on him to bid the government farewell after completing their duty tour of the country.

Among the envoys Mr Amissah-Arthur conferred with are the former Cuban Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Jorge Lefebvre Nicolas, the immediate past Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs Joanna Adamson, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sun Baohong, and the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Jon Benjamin.

In all of these meetings, the Vice-President expressed the government’s resolve to deepen diplomatic ties with their governments and the rest of the world in the pursuance of South-South cooperation.

Some diplomatic missions in the country also extended invitations to the Vice-President to grace events they were organising and on each of these occasions, the ‘number two gentleman’ of the land honoured them.

Mr Amissah-Arthur was the guest of honour at the launch of the Ghana-Netherlands Business and Culture Council (GNBCC) in Accra in March this year, where he called on Dutch investors to take advantage of the investment climate in the country.

Regional assignments Outside of the seat of government, the Vice-President embarked on some regional assignments to either inaugurate one project or an other as well as open conferences.

Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur in October this year inaugurated the first phase of the Obuasi Horsey Lorry Park Terminal where he called on the people to cultivate a good maintenance culture to ensure the longevity of developments in the Obuasi Municipality.

The project comes with other facilities such as a police post, a fire station and a clinic to serve as a one-stop station for drivers, passengers and the residents themselves.

In the latter part of this year he inaugurated the reconstituted Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in Tamale in the Northern Region and asked assembly members to live up to their responsibilities by promoting the welfare of their people.

In Cape Coast in the Central Region, Mr Amissah-Arthur launched the second National Medical Outreach Services with the affirmation that the government would continue to invest in the health sector to safeguard the health needs of the people. he launched some mobile clinics Christened Onuado, which means brotherly love in the Akan language,at the Sekondi Naval Base in the Western Region.

The Vice-President early in the year opened the annual Regional Ministers Conference in Wa in the Upper West Region and in the Volta Region embarked on a number of road rehabilitation projects in the Krachi West District.

Unfortunately, bad weather did not allow him to join the people in the Upper East Region when the region took its turn to observe the national Farmers Day. Rather, he joined the people of Kpone to celebrate the Greater Accra edition.

Recently, the Vice-President was the special guest of honour at the 35th edition of the technology fair of Christo Asafo Mission, making him the first sitting Vice-President and a top government official to grace the occasion.

Foreign assignments The Vice-President did not embark on many trips this year as earlier indicated but the few he attended will be beneficial to the country.

In June this year he joined other African leaders at the three-day World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa which took place in Cape Town, South Africa.

During the summit, he held meetings with leaders of international organisations, including the Chief Executive in-charge of Corporate and Investment Banking of Barclays, Mr Stephen van Coller, and the Chairperson of the bank, Mrs Wendy Lucas-Bull.

He also held a session with a group of investors in the agribusiness sector in South Africa, who indicated their intention to identify and partner Ghanaian agribusinesses for the advancement of the sector in the two countries.

On August 24 this year, the Vice-President was in Kigali, Rwanda, to attend the Melez Zenawi Symposium on African Development aimed at seeking views from African leaders on the best development paradigm for the continent.