By SEBASTIAN R. FREIKU
Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen
Leading contender in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearership race, Mr John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen has re-affirmed his bid for the race with claims of better experience, vision and contributions for the party since 1992, more than any of the other nine contenders.
He told delegates of the Ahafo Ano South, South West and South East constituencies, Wednesday, during his cluster delegates’ durbar that he is more experienced among all the contestants to assume the leadership of the party.
The former Trade and Industry Minister said as one of 100 global leaders, together with late American President J.F Kennedy and Billionaire Bill Gates, listed by the Time Magazine in 1994, he has the vision to create more jobs and uplift the lives of Ghanaians if given the nod.
Popularly known as ‘Alan Cash’, Mr Kyerematen cited as evidence of his track record, the 1D1F policy under which about 300 factories are being built and are at various levels of completion and the Presidential Special Initiatives programme (PSI) which created fully integrated agricultural and industrial projects, respectively under the current Akufo-Addo and former President Kufuor’s administration.
He referred to his qualities as a unifier by sacrificing to step down and save the party from a potentially divisive runoff at the party’s 2007 primaries, after the first poll did not provide a clear winner.
Alan Kyerematen indicated that breaking the ‘8’ depended on votes and assured the delegates that he would garner two million votes from Ashanti region if he is given the mandate to lead the party at the Presidential Primaries in November.
He claimed that apart from former President Kufuor and sitting President Nana Akufo-Addo, he is the next crowd puller able to give the NPP the needed numbers to break the ‘8’ in 2024.
He, therefore, called on the delegates to count on his experience, vision and contributions and give him the responsibility to lead the party to break the ‘8’ and form the next NPP government.
Speaking at the same forum, Saddique Boniface, Coordinator of the ‘Alan for President’ campaign and a former Minister for Zongos and Inner-City Development, as well as a former MP for Madina, described Alan Kyerematen as the third NPP president of the 4th Republic.
Alhaji Boniface believes Muslims from the Northern regions and the Zongo constituencies would vote massively for Alan and urged the gathering to do same.
According to him, delegates in constituencies in the Northern regions were passionate about their choice of Alan as the next leader of the party, which was a pointer to his qualities of patience and a unifier, which is why the NPP needs to break the ‘8’ in the 2024 elections.
Credit: Chronicle.com