Alan Kyeremanten Blames Ghanaians For Return To IMF Bailout

Flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and former minister responsible for Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, has stated that the country would not have returned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if citizens has listen to his ideas and implemented them in the past.

According to him he introduced the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI) under the John Agyekum Kufuor era which could have been a game changer if it had been fully accepted by Ghanaians.

Mr Kyeremanten was speaking at the commencement of his Greater Accra Delegates tour in the Ablekuma constituency in Accra as he seeks the mandate of the NPP to lead the party into the 2024 general elections.

“The amount of work I have done for this country, sometimes I even feel ashamed talking about it. In President Kufuor’s era, I was one of the senior ministers in Kufuor’s administration. I brought PSI (The President’s Special Initiatives), and if Ghanaians had listened to me, today Ghana wouldn’t have gone to the IMF.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor envisaged the President’s Special Initiatives as an opportunity to create a ‘Golden Age of Business’ stimulated by public-private partnerships and the creation of over 100,000 jobs.

The strategic intent of the PSIs, according to the NPP government, was to move Ghana’s economy beyond HIPC status and reduce the country’s over-dependence on aid and donor support and a few commodity exports by finding new pillars of growth.

As a member of Nana Akufo-Addo’s cabinet, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen resigned from his position as Minister of Trade and Industry in January this year to reignite his presidential ambition.

Alan first made an attempt to lead the NPP in 2007, where he polled 32.3 per cent of votes as against the winner, Nana Akufo-Addo who gained 47.96 per cent.

He made two more attempts in 2010 and 2014 but came second to Akufo-Addo, who won both primaries again.

Mr Kyerematen, 68, was an Ambassador of Ghana to the United States and later Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development (PSD) and the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI), under the President John Kufuor-led NPP government.

He 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).

The governing NPP’s presidential primaries scheduled for November this year, is seen as a straight contest between Alan and the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

other contenders include Assin Central lawmaker Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, former General Secretary, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, former Agriculture minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former Attorney General , Railways Development Minister and current MP for Esikado Ketan, Joe Ghartey, Boakye Agyarko, the former energy minister, Francis Addai Nimoh, the former MP for Mampong in the Ashanti Region, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, an economist and former minister for regional co-operation.