President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo appears to have announced contenders for the next leader of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as his tenure comes to an end
The Minister of Trade and Industries, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen as well as the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, are reported to have harboured ambitions to becoming flagbearers of the ruling party.Both men are part of the President’s team touring the Ashanti Region.
President Akufo-Addo made a huge announcement at Manhyia Palace, the seat of the Asantehene on Friday at the start of his four-day working tour, in the Ashanti Region.
“Nana let me introduce my team,” he started. “This is your grandson Dr Afriyie Akoto, my Agric Minister who wants to become the president.”
Sitting next to the Agric Minister was Mr Kyerematen as introduced by the President.
“Nana said, this is Alan Kyerematen, he has been vying for my seat for a very long time, a very workaholic minister,” he chuckled amidst loud noise from the crowd gathered at Manhyia.
The party has issued a code of conduct to all aspiring members and warned of punitive measures of any campaign thereby barring party members from campaigning ahead of the presidential primaries in 2023.
President Akufo-Addo, who has led the party since 2008, continues his tour of the Ashanti Region on Saturday with a visit to Darko Farms and inspection of the Abuakwa-Tanoso Road.
In a related development scores of Ghanaians particularly the youths across the country including the youth wings of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have joined Mr Alan Kyerematen to celebrate his 66th birthday in a grand style.
Some of the regions and places Mr Kyerematen was celebrated during his birthday are, Ashanti, Greater AccraCentral,Bono,Northern, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West Western include Foreign branches which were UK, USA and France.
His birthday was marked by cake cutting and donations made to some orphanage homes.
The iconic industrialist was widely celebrated because, he has demonstrated and proven his leadership posture to be a competent person, charismatic, humble and peace maker.
Mr Kyerematen popularly called Alan Cash born on October 3 1955 is a Ghanaian politician, corporate executive, diplomat and an international public servant specialising in global trade issues.
Mr Kyerematen was ambassador to the United States and later Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development (PSD) and the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI), under President Kufuor-led NPP government.
Mr Kyerematen served as a trade advisor at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he coordinated the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC).
Mr Kyerematen an Aspiring Flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party has established the US-Ghana Economic Council to deepen economic ties and bilateral trade, negotiated the purchase of VALCO by the Ghana government at a cost of 20 million dollars.
He implemented the first Investment Forum in the US to showcase the economic potential of each of the 10 regions of Ghana, negotiated Cosmos Energy’s arrival in Ghana to discover oil, and negotiated the release of 547 million dollars from the US government through the Millennium Challenge Accounts (MCA), to alleviate poverty in Ghana.
He built an 8.5-million-dollar state-of-the-art factory, to produce high grade industrial starch from cassava for export. The Ayensu Starch Factory has been bought by Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) this year, to produce beer for consumption.
He also constructed an enclave within the Tema Free Zone, for the manufacturing of garments for export, revived the Oil Palm
Industry in Ghana, expanded the salt mining operations, implemented the District Industrialization Programme, whereas, Mr Kyerematen also initiated the highly successful National Friday Wear agenda, implemented the Distance Education programme to enable Ghanaian workers acquire higher degrees, and facilitated the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which offers Ghana, quota free export of certain category of goods to the US market.
He also negotiated a US $45 million loan facility with the World Bank to promote SME development in Ghana.
