The Amissah-Arthur Vetting Report
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The Amissah-Arthur Vetting Report
…The Full Text of The Observations, Recommendations, Findings & Conclusions of Appointments Committee of Parliament
“THE AMISSAH-ARTHUR VETTING REPORT”
IN THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE FOURTH REPUBLIC OF GHANA
TWENTY-SIXTH REPORT OF THE APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE ON HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT’S NOMINATION FOR APPOINTMENT AS VICE PRESIDENT (6TH AUGUST, 2012)
*1.0 INTRODUCTION:
His Excellency, Presidential John Dramani Mahama in a letter dated 1st August, 2012 communicated to Parliament for the approval of the nomination of Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur for appointment as Vice President of the Republic of Ghana pursuant to Article 60 (10) of the Constitution.In accordance with Order 172(2) of the Standing Orders of the House, the nomination was referred to the Appointments Committee for consideration and report.
The name of the nominee was subsequently published in the media in accordance with Standing Order 172(3). Memoranda were also invited from the public as part of the mechanism to ensure that the nominee satisfied the requirements of the Constitution.
*2.0 REFERENCE DOCUMENTS:
The following served as reference documents to the Committee during deliberations and public hearing of the nominees:
*1. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana
*2. Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana
*3. Curriculum Vitae of the nominee
*3.0 PROCEDURE:
On appearing before the Committee, the nominee subscribed to the oath of a witness and answered questions relating to his record of office, the position to which he has been nominated and issues of general national concern.
The Chairman of the Committee commenced the meeting by indicating that public hearing of a vice presidential nominee was unprecedented in the history of the country. The Committee therefore sought guidance from other jurisdictions, particularly the United States of America (USA).
The United States recorded 16 instances where the position of the vice president became vacant. He stated that the 25th Amendment to the American Constitution which was inspired by the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, made provision for the nomination of Vice President to be approved by both Houses of Legislature. He stated that in 1973, when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned, President Nixon invoked the 25th Amendment and nominated Gerald Ford, then the House Republican Leader as Vice President.
Congress conducted a thorough investigation on the nominee and held public and in-camera hearings on the vice presidential nominee Gerald Ford. On August 9th 1974, Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon as President. This made Gerald Ford the only person ever to be Vice President and later President without being elected to either office.
The decision of the Appointments Committee to conduct its proceedings in public was therefore guided by the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana and the practices in jurisdictions such as USA.
The Chairman indicated that Order 172 vests in the Appointments Committee, the power to recommend for approval by Parliament, persons nominated by the President for appointment as Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers of States, the Chief Justice and other Justices of the Supreme Court and such other persons specified under the Constitution and other enactments.
Order 172(3) further enjoins the Committee to publish the names of such persons and the proceedings of the Committee held in public.
The Chairman noted that the Vice President was one of the persons so specified in the Constitution by virtue of article 60(10) and therefore the approval process aught to be held in public.
The position espoused by the Chairman was corroborated by the Ranking Member of the Committee who explained that the hearing of the nominee in public is in lieu of such scrutiny that would have ordinarily been exercised by the general public had the Vice President gone through normal elections as a Running Mate.
He suggested further that the vetting process was to provide a baptism to the nominee that Parliament has oversight responsibility over the Executive; and as such, the platform was to indicate to the nominee that he will be required to submit to Parliament whenever it is required of him to do so.*4.0 OBSERVATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:
*Background:
Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur was born on 29th April, 1951 in Cape Coast, Central Region.
He attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast between 1963 and 1971 for his GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level certificates.
He was awarded a Bachelor of Science (Economics) Honors Degree and a Master of Science (Economics) from the University of Ghana, Legon in 1974 and 1980 respectively.
Mr. Amissah-Arthur started work as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana from 1974 to 1975. He was appointed a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, Legon from 1977 to 1978 and was in 1979 promoted to the position of an Assistant Lecturer.
Between 1980 and 1988, Mr. Amissah-Arthur worked as a lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana. He also lectured at the Department of Economics, Anambra State College of Education, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria from August, 1981 to July 1983.
The nominee has held several positions. These include Special Assistant to the PNDC Secretary for Finance and Economic Planning from 1983 to January, 1986, Deputy PNDC Secretary for Finance and Economic Planning from February, 1986 to March 1993, and Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning from 1993 to March 1997.
Between 1997 and 2008, the nominee worked for various organizations (both Government Agencies and Non-Governmental Agencies) as a consultant. As part of his consultancy work, he assisted Sigma One Corporation on the Ghana Trade and Investment Reform Project aimed at enhancing Ghana’s export competitiveness from July 1998 to June 2000. He also assisted the Community Water and Sanitation Agency from 2003 to 2008 to develop their Strategic Investment Plan.
The Nominee has served on several Boards and Committees. He served as a Director of the Ghana Commercial Bank (1986-1991) and also served on the Agricultural Policy Coordinating Committee (Cabinet’s Advisory Committee) as the Chairman. He further served as the Chairman of the Board of the Ghana International Bank, London, UK from 2009 till his nomination as Vice President.
Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has served as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana since October 2009 to date.
*Citizenship:
The nominee confirmed to the Committee that he is a citizen of Ghana by birth.
*Background Checks:
The Chairman informed the nominee and Members that a background check had been done on the nominee. The Criminal Investigations Department of the Police Service reported that they had no criminal record on the nominee. The Bureau of National Investigations reported that the nominee had not come to “security notice”. The nominee is a registered voter and has obtained a tax clearance certificate from the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Also, as at the time of public hearing, no petition had been received by the Committee on his nomination.
*Concurrent lecturing in Ghana and Nigeria:
The nominee explained that when he decided to sojourn to Nigeria in 1981, he was advised by the University to put in a resignation with a promise that he could return to the University without counting the period of resignation. He said in 1983 when the University was re-opened, he returned to teach at the University whilst serving as a Special Assistant to the PNDC Secretary and later as Deputy Secretary of Finance.The nominee continued to lecture at the University of Ghana despite his political appointments until the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution when he formally resigned.
As to whether he drew different salaries in his double role as a political appointee and a lecturer, the nominee stated that as a Deputy PNDC Secretary, he opted to take his salary at the University of Ghana since at that time, the PNDC secretaries were paid allowances which were far inferior to the salaries offered by the University.
*View on the State of the Economy:
As to whether in view of the rising prices of items in the market and the rapid depreciation of the Cedi, he was happy with the current state of the Ghanaian economy, Mr. Amissah-Arthur stated that despite these factors, the economy had also chalked some successes and cited for instance that the non-oil economy has seen growth in excess of 8% for the past 2 years.
He averred that whilst the prices of a few particular commodities may have gone up, the rate of increase of prices of most items have been relatively slow, resulting in the country recording single digit inflation for the past two years.
*Advice on the Economy:
Portions of the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612) were read to the nominee after which he was asked to name one advice he gave to government that helped to save the cedi from depreciating.
The nominee explained that the Bank of Ghana is in charge of managing the monetary policy and therefore did not just give advice to the government but actually took decisions and steps to secure the value of the Cedi. He attributed the fall in the value of the Cedi to pressures from imports which have doubled over the last two (2) years.
*Dollar withdrawal:
The nominee informed the Committee that the Bank of Ghana, in its anti money-laundering drive, has given directives to commercial banks to ensure that over the counter withdrawals of dollars are limited. Also, the Bank’s requirement that financial institutions maintain a cedi equivalent reserve in respect of dollar deposits held has caused some of the institutions to charge a minimal percentage on counter withdrawals of dollars.
*Woyome saga:
Mr. Amissah-Arthur was referred to the Woyome scandal and asked why the Bank of Ghana of which he was the governor paid such substantial amount to the businessman when the late President had instructed that the money was not to be paid. The outgoing Governor of the Central Bank stated that the Bank of Ghana did not receive any instructions from the President not to make the payment. He further explained to the Committee that the Bank of Ghana is a banker to the government and therefore if there is credit on the account of the account holder (government), the Bank cannot refuse to pay upon the presentation of a valid instrument.
*Onward Investment Company:
The Vice President-Designate informed the Committee that two suits have been instituted against the Central Bank in respect of the case of Onward Investment Company which the Central Bank closed down without depositors getting their deposits back. He informed the Committee that he was apprehensive about providing further details because of the court case. Notwithstanding, he explained that the bank would strongly contest the case since the Bank never issued any license to that company. To him, all the Central Bank did was to secure the interest of the public by ensuring that the company did not continue to perpetuate the illegality.
*Currency Exchange Rate and Elections:
The Nominee confirmed the assertion that every election year, the country experiences some economic instability, saying that the best example in recent times was 2004. He said the Cedi has experienced significant depreciation this year probably because the country’s import bill almost doubled this year. He assured the Committee that mechanisms have been put in place, including calling on reserves and this has led to the deceleration of the depreciation.
*Interest Rate Disparities:
Honourable Members wanted to know what was accounting for the wide disparities between the Bank of Ghana policy rate and the commercial banks’ lending rate; and also between the commercial banks’ lending rates and deposit rates. To this, the nominee explained that when he took office as governor, he found that the disparities were very wide, so as a first step, the Bank decided to inform the public about the interest rates being charged by various banks so as to enable consumers to shop around. He indicated that a new formula has been established by the Central Bank within which financial institutions in the country would be required to model their interest rates. He promised that in due course, the public would feel the impact of the formula.
*Intra-party opposition to his nomination:
It was suggested to the nominee that the voices of opposition to his nomination as Vice President coming from within the National Democratic Congress was a result of “indiscipline”. Responding, Mr. Amissah-Arthur stated that the situation was a matter of “plurality” rather than indiscipline. He expressed contentment about serving as Vice President for the remainder of the President’s term saying that even one day in that position is “a great honour”. He pledged to work diligently to assist the President to prosecute his mandate.
*Allegations on Sexuality:
The nominee’s attention was drawn to some media publications which sought to cast insinuations on his sexuality. The Vice President-Designate therefore took the opportunity to emphatically deny such allegation and insinuation, blaming it on some former school mate who wanted to extort money from him through such blackmail. He stated that a critical analysis of his residences and household history would indicate clearly that the publications were mere fabrications.
*Vault Break-In:
The nominee was asked whether upon assumption of office as Governor of the Central Bank, he found any of the vaults broken into and moneys and gold bars stolen, he simply responded “never” and further added that no gold bullions or bars had disappeared from the Bank. He explained that the Bank has very high security which makes all public assets kept there, including the State Sword, very safe.
*WAMZ Convergence Criteria:
It was put to the nominee that whilst Ghana had done well in the primary convergence criteria for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) (by achieving 3 out of 4 of the primary criteria), the country had not done so well in the secondary criteria where only 1 out of the 6 criteria has been achieved currently.
The nominee expressed the view that there should be more commitment to the convergence process, if that’s what the countries want to do. He quickly added that he gets the sense that some of the countries are getting concerned about the whole WAMZ arrangement. His personal idea was that it may not be the best thing to do for now, given the experiences of other blocs such as the Eurozone.
*5.0 CONCLUSION:
The Appointments Committee has carried out its duty diligently in accordance with the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House with respect to the nomination of Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur for appointment as Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. The Committee is satisfied that the Mr. Amissah-Arthur has fully met the requirements of the Constitution and therefore respectively recommends his nomination to the House for approval by consensus.
Respectfully submitted.
……………………………
HON. EDWARD DOE ADJAHO FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER AND CHAIRMAN APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE
………………………………
ALHAJI IBRAHIM GOMBILLA DEPUTY CLERK TO PARLIAMENT 6TH AUGUST, 2012
Source: New Crusading Guide/Ghana
