Ghana central bank head named vice president

Accra, 1 Aug – (ANA) - Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama has chosen Central Bank Governor Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as his vice-president, a spokesman told a local radio station yesterday. The nomination will now go before parliament's appointment committee for approval but the process is seen as a formality.

The decision means Amissah-Arthur is likely to line up alongside Mahama as his running mate after the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) party said that it will name him as its candidate in an election due at the end of the year.

"The president, in consultation with party leaders, has picked Amissah-Arthur, the governor of the Central Bank, to be vice president, pending parliamentary approval," John Jinakpor said on Joy FM. Mahama took over as Ghana's president last week when President John Atta Mills died unexpectedly. Amissah-Arthur has been governor of Ghana's Central Bank since October 2009 and has pushed through policies targeting growth and development in the cocoa, gold and oil producing nation. (ANA)

FA/ANA/1 August 2012---------