Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Ghana’s vice president, is 65 years today, Friday April 29.

The former governor of the Bank of Ghana was sworn in as vice president on 6 August, 2012, following vetting by parliament.

He was nominated by President John Dramani Mahama to be vice president a week after Mr Mahama himself was sworn in as leader following the death of the then president John Atta Mills.

Mr Amissah-Arthur was born at Cape Coast, the capital of the Central Region of Ghana. He is a former student of the Mfantsipim School, where he obtained the GCE Ordinary Level in 1969 and the GCE Advanced Level in 1971.

He had his university education at the University of Ghana where he obtained the B.Sc. in 1974 and M.Sc. in 1976, both in Economics.

Mr Amissah-Arthur has a vast experience in teaching. He was a research assistant at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research between 1974 and 1975 and later joined the Economics Department as a teaching assistant from 1977 to 1978, going on to become an assistant lecturer in 1979.

He lectured at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana between 1980 and 1988.

He has also been a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Anambra State College of Education, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria, and worked as a consultant for the World Bank in the Gambia.

Mr Amissah-Arthur is not new to politics, unlike many assume. He joined politics in 1983 when he served as a Special Assistant to the PNDC Secretary of Finance and Economic Planning, Kwesi Botchwey, in the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government.

He became Deputy Secretary for Finance in the PNDC government from February 1986 until March 1993. From April 1993, he continued as the Deputy Minister for Finance in the Rawlings government after the establishment of constitutional rule until March 1997.

Mr Amissah-Arthur was appointed Governor of the Bank of Ghana in October 2009 by the late President John Atta Mills.

He held this position until 6 August 2012 when he became the vice president of Ghana.