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                                  EXHIBIT 31.1

Certification of Chief Executive Officer under Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley
Act of 2002

I, Thomas E. Stanberry, certify that:

1.   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of West Bancorporation,
     Inc.

2.   Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
     statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
     make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
     statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
     the quarterly report;

3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
     information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
     material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
     flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
     quarterly report;

4.   The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
     establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
     in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

          a.   designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
               known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
               the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

          b.   designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
               caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
               designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
               regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
               preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
               accordance with generally accepted accounting principles:

          c.   evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
               controls and procedures and presented in this report our
               conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
               and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
               report based on such evaluation; and

          d.   disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
               control over financial reporting that occurred during the
               registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
               affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
               registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.   The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
     our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
     the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of
     directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

          a.   all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
               design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting
               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
               ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
               information; and

          b.   any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
               other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
               internal controls over financial reporting.

November 3, 2005


/s/ Thomas E. Stanberry
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Thomas E. Stanberry
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer