Wake up Mr. Vice President – the people are suffering

Apparently even his closest colleagues have named Vice- President Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur after his constant refrain ‘Maabre’, meaning ‘I’m tired’. This seems a very suitable title to us Ghanaian voters as the Vice President looks and sounds visibly exhausted and maybe it was that same tiredness that lead to, what seemed to be, a lack of focus, concentration or even knowledge when he appeared at the IEA Vice- Presidential debate last week in Takoradi. At least it we were amused as he urged us to build public toilets in private homes and when he was unable to hear the difference between the words ports and courts. “I have never been to court”, he answered to a clear question and debate about bureaucratic bottlenecks at the port of Tema.

But our amusement must surely fade away fast when we realize that Mr. Amissah Arthur role means he is in charge of important matters of state including our poor performing economy and, let us not forget, that the position of Vice- President is just a heart beat away from the Presidency.

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, admits that it will totally imprudent to promote the running mate of his party. According to him it is the strategy of the NDC to keep Mr. Amissah- Arthur out of the limelight so they can let the public concentrate on the Presidency. Yes, indeed a very prudent strategy, which is obviously aimed at keeping the tired Vice President out of sight but we the voters, must make sure we do not keep him out of mind.

We have to remember that he is the man who was in charge the Bank of Ghana as the cedi went into free fall and his reward was to be made our Vice President. Now having stepped into the second most important role in the country Mr. Amissah- Arthur gives the impression that his mind is not on the job and he finds it tedious and over taxing.

I personally want a vice president that has the vim and abilities for the job to improve the lot of suffering Ghanaians but as one of Mr. Amissah- Arthur’s former students at Legon told me “I am not surprised by his lack-luster performance, we used to use his lectures at Legon to catch up with our sleep as he was so uninteresting and tedious.”

Mr. Vice President, I beg you please go into retirement, enjoy your rest and let us have a Vice- President who can do the job.

Ama Bonsu

Dansoman, Accra