Looking For A Veep? Not Amissah-Arthur

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Created on Saturday, 10 November 2012 00:00

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Looking For A Veep? Not Amissah-Arthur

Yes, when the whole nation wakes up to a morning of a collapsed public building with scores of people trapped in that building, every social discussion must be directed towards the tragedy as we collectively try to find solutions to the problems. We cannot be unconcerned as a people when our kiths and kin through no fault of theirs get trapped under heavy rubbles.

They were there to engage in legitimate activities to keep body and soul together and support their families. Kakraa yebedie nti. May the souls of the departed ones rest in peace while we wish the injured a speedy recovery. I shall return to this subject and the general indiscipline in this country in the way we do things and the lethargy of officialdom until disasters strike.

Yes, Takoradi was honoured by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) when we hosted the four vice presidential aspirants to a debate, following the earlier presidential debate in Tamale. Surely as an NPP man, my expectations and prayers were that my candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia carries the day which he indeed, did.

The news and the reason for this piece is not the fact that Bawumia walked off with the debate, but that the sitting Vice President of this country was so abysmal in his performance in spite of the initial vainglorious accolades showered on him by the vociferous ‘sharp-teethed’ liars who want to dignify their lies by calling themselves propagandists.

First, I want to caution Vice President Amissah-Arthur and his cohorts that the Western Region is not an arena of wealth where idiots with political power can jump in and satisfy their greed and leave the region very bear.

In what could be described as the State of the nation address by President Mahama a few months back, the President told the world that his government, and for that matter, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) “will provide infrastructure in the Western region to help in exploiting the resources of the region.”

Last Tuesday in Takoradi, the Vice President repeated the warped thinking of the presidency in as far as the Western region is concerned, when he said in his general open remarks “the Western Region remains a challenge to this nation as far as the exploitation of its immense resources are concerned.”

This is the second time the NDC government and its topmost leadership have treated this region with contempt. They seem to be more concerned about exploiting the resources of this region rather than addressing the developmental challenges, both physically and human.

No wonder President Mahama will use monies generated from the region to pay for inflated costs of training doctors in Cuba without considering anybody from the Western Region, just as the Education Fund of the GNPC which has 90 out of hundreds of beneficiaries in Aberdeen coming from President Mahama’s home region.

This tells you the contempt which Mahama and Amissah-Arthur have for the good people of this region. Enough of this nonsense.

Now, back to why Amissah-Arthur does not deserve to occupy the position he is occupying now let alone being voted back into office. The modern thinking of the two gentlemen of our land today is that anybody with varying opinion from what they believe in is confused.

The other time it was Nana Addo who was confused when he exposed the corruption in the Cuban training deal; the President, who possess official documents concerning the Cuban arrangement in his office and decided to reduce the cost of training one doctor in Cuba per year by 83%, that is from $30,000 to $5000 is deemed to be stable in mind, but the one who exposed the inconsistencies in official figures and what the President gave us is rather confused.

Amissah-Arthur comes to Takoradi and cannot convince Ghanaians as to why under a sustained single digit inflation for such a long period in a single regime of four years, prices keep on rising, the cedi keeps on falling and interest rates are spiralling, the economist cum banker says the whole nation is confused about the relationships that exist among inflation, prices and interest rate.

I am not an economist; in fact, my academic knowledge in economics is limited to what I studied for my Advanced Level examination. This shortfall in my knowledge in that field does not make me completely ignorant about economics.

If nothing at all, the fiscal and monetary policies of President Kufuor in the reduction of inflation and its accompanying reduction in interest rates, stable currency and stable prices are enough education for even the uninitiated in the world of theoretical economic studies. There was no doubt at all in the minds of the financial institutions at the time that interest rates needed to go down in tandem with the genuine fall in the inflation figures.

Treasury Bill rates were unattractive to the Ghanaian because the government was not competing with the public for funds from the financial institutions. The banks were rather chasing individuals and corporate institutions to offer them facilities. There was no confusion whatsoever in the minds of the managers of our financial institutions because they reacted on the realities of the time.

The reality of today is that the faked inflation figures are being worked with by the managers of our financial institutions, hence the high interest rates which translate into high cost of borrowing and therefore high cost of goods and services rendered by those who go for the high cost of funds for business.

The rate of inflation is not a determinant in the standard of living of the individual; it is the cost of goods and services which impact on the lives of the citizenry. Therefore, if inflation figures are low and prices are high, the levels of inflation do not matter in the equation except to say that it is ‘curious’. There is no confusion whatsoever in the minds of right thinking Ghanaians, except with the NDC.

The Vice President says low inflation is good and desirable for the low income earners and workers, that is true but it is only beneficial to the low income earner if it is connected with stable prices, stable currency and low interest rates.

Amissah-Arthur has a paper qualification, his economic thinking is not right, he is more confused than anyone else in this country. Amissah-Arthur’s level of confusion became very manifest when he was referring to “court” instead of “port”. How can a stable mind in a debate be so absent-minded that he will not even follow the answers of his opponent in other to outdo him or her?

It is only a confused man who does that in a debate. In his state of confusion, he blames the Registrar-General for the problems at the ports.

What has the office of the Registrar-General got to do with congestion and inefficiencies at our ports of entry? Confusion made his masterpiece and the intelligent minds of Ghanaians were ‘broke open’ and fed with confused thoughts of a confused Vice President.

He further exhibits his level of confusion when he says that to deal with sanitation, particularly to address the issue of excreta, the Vice President of this noble country calls for the construction of Public toilet in every home?

Every home must have toilets but for the use of the general public. He should open his toilets in his home to the public for a start and he will see the queues and the ‘fuse’ that will engulf him and his family.

The Vice President blames low Tourism performance on high cost of hotel bills. Yes, hotel bills are high relatively in Ghana, but is it not amazing when we are experiencing a single digit inflation regime? The P/NDC sold all state hotels and Guest Houses to their cronies when Amissah-Arthur was a Deputy Minister for Finance. He is telling private hoteliers that their rents are expensive.

If it were that easy, they should have developed the state hotels and made them affordable even if that is the only ingredient in improving tourism in Ghana. He left roads, water, electricity and the rest out of the equation.

To Amissah-Arthur, checking erosions provides housing for the people of Ghana. This is a Vice President who is bereft of ideas and is not deserving of that position. Indeed, his countenance and demeanour were not vice presidential.

He lacked confidence and did not inspire anybody. He was a great disappointment even to his supporters. Ghana deserves better, vote out Mahama-Amissah-Arthur ticket.

A single digit inflation has not stabilized the price of my mahogany bitters, but how for do. Two tots to stabilize the inflation in my system.

Source: Kwesi Biney - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .