Ghana’s Trade Minister Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen has resigned from government.
This is according to Joy News report citing multiple sources close to the minister.
The Accra-based media house reported that the minister tendered his resignation letter to President Nana Akufo-Addo on Thursday, January 5, 2023.
The man popularly called ‘Alan Cash’ has long been rumoured to be nursing the ambition to contest the flagbearership slot of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) going into the 2024 general elections.
Mr. Kyerematen’s first attempt at the presidency was in 2007 when he contested the current president in the NPP’s presidential primary losing narrowly to then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in that hot contest.
He obtained 32.3% of the votes cast which pushed the internal party presidential election to a run-off, but he decided not to continue the battle to allow Nana Akufo-Addo who polled 47.96% of votes cast to be declared winner of that contest.
Mr Kyerematen made other attempts at the party’s leadership in 2010 and 2014 but placed second to Akufo-Addo, who won the primaries.
He did not contest President Akufo-Addo as a sitting president in 2019 when he had the opportunity.
Political Career
Mr Kyerematen started nurturing his desire to lead the NPP in a presidential election since 2007, but lost to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a close contest held at the University of Ghana ahead of the 2008 presidential elections.
He emerged second in that contest, but declined a run-off between him and Nana Akufo-Addo, and conceded defeat.
Mr Kyerematen renewed his battle with Nana Akufo-Addo in 2010 and 2014, but lost to the latter, who won both primaries to become the flagbearer.
Although Mr Kyerematen has not officially declared his intention to become flagbearer of the NPP in the 2024 election, sources close to him have confirmed his desire to lead the Party.
Mr Kyerematen had served as Minister of Trade and Industry under Former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He also served as Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, during which he established the US-Ghana Economic Council to deepen economic relations and bilateral trade.
Mr Kyerematen has an extensive and distinguished record in international trade, international public policy, enterprise development, politics and diplomacy.
As Ghana’s Minister of Trade, Industry and President’s Special Initiatives (PSI) from 2003, he led the design, development and implementation of innovative programmes and special initiatives, which have created new strategic pillars of growth for the Ghanaian economy.
He was re-appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry in 2005, and served in that capacity until 2007 with additional responsibility for Private Sector Development.
As Minister of Trade and Industry in Ghana, Alan Kyerematen played a key role in shaping Africa’s Trade Policy agenda in the WTO Multilateral Negotiations and the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreement Negotiations.
He was one of the lead negotiators for Africa in the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun in 2003, and also participated in the high-level “Green Room” consultations during the Hong Kong WTO Conference in December 2005.
In addition, he initiated, directed and managed the preparations for the hosting of UNCTAD XII in Ghana, and introduced for the first time in the history of UNCTAD Conferences, the World Investment Forum, which has now become a major calendar event for UNCTAD.
Mr Kyerematen also coordinated and supervised the hosting by Ghana of the Sixth United States-Africa Summit in 2006, and played a key role in negotiating changes in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
He was Chairman of the ECOWAS Council of Trade Ministers at the critical stages of launching the EU-ECOWAS EPA negotiations.
Prior to his appointment as Minister, Mr. Kyerematen served as Ambassador of Ghana to the United States of America from 2001 to 2003.
In that role, he negotiated various trade and investment agreements between Ghana and the United States, and initiated the establishment of the Ghana-United States Economic Council, which played a strategic role in deepening trade relations between the two countries and resolved commercial disputes through extrajudicial processes.
In 1998, Alan Kyerematen was appointed by the UNDP as the first Regional Director of ENTERPRISE AFRICA, which was an Africa-wide, flagship initiative for the development and promotion of small and medium enterprises.
Under that framework, he established enterprise support institutions and programmes in 13 Sub-Saharan Africa countries – Botswana, Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Over 4,000 African entrepreneurs and small businesses have benefited from these programmes.
In 1990, Alan Kyerematen was responsible for establishing and managing the EMPRETEC Programme in Ghana, a leading business development programme sponsored by the United Nations and Barclays Bank Limited.
He led the transformation of EMPRETEC from a UN project into an independent Foundation.