Aug 02, 2012 at 5:57pm

The Eastern Regional Minister, Victor Smith, has kicked against the nomination of Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as vice-presidential nominee, arguing that he cannot win a single vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in December.

The former ambassador said President John Dramani Mahama is gambling with the fortunes of the party by selecting the Governor of the Bank of Ghana as his partner.

Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Thursday, the former aide to ex-President Jerry John Rawlings said he has “strong reservations” when it comes to deciding on the economist as the party’s running mate for the 2012 elections because “he can’t bring numbers” to the party.

He said there are people who have been in the party for long and have sacrificed their lives worthy of amassing votes for the party, hence it will be a major blow to pair Mr. Amissah-Arthur with Mr. Mahama come December.

“People have been very active politically. Some of us have suffered so many inconveniences to bring this party this far,” he stated.

“I don’t have a problem with him being a technocrat, but when it comes to bringing numbers to the table I have serious reservations that he will complement the charisma and quality of President John Mahama.”

“His credentials can’t win an election. You need to bring votes to the table. If you look at President Mills, in his first attempt he took Martin Amidu, but he didn’t get the nod. He went for Mohammed Mumuni and he didn’t bring the nod and most of us were rooting for John Mahama – what happened? We won the elections.

“If you take the wrong person you wouldn’t win because the people look at the ticket,” Mr. Smith pointed out.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur would be vetted in public by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, August 6 and he is highly tipped to become an automatic choice as running mate.



By Kent Mensah/Citifmonline.com/Ghana