Though there have been talk of so much gloom, doom, despair and despondency about the country’s future, Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, a leading contender for the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer position, is not daunted by the country’s problems and says “all of us as Ghanaians need to be optimistic about the future of our country. We are often haunted by the fear of failure instead of being inspired by the challenges of success.”

Mr Kyerematen believes that what Ghana needs is transformational leadership to move the country forward. “This means bold, visionary, and inspiring leadership backed by action, hard work, discipline, a passion for excellence, and a renewed sense of national consciousness and pride in our core Ghanaian values as Ghanaians.”

“My vision for Ghana,” he said, “will be to build a prosperous, modern, industrialised and peaceful country with a well-educated and healthy citizenry who have equal access to opportunities without prejudice to their political affiliation, gender, age religious faith or ethnicity.”

Mr Kyerematen, who is contesting the party’s primary with twice defeated presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and five others, believes that for his vision to realised, Ghanaians need to be optimistic about the future of the country.

The other five candidates are Dr Kofi Apraku, Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Mr Joe Ghartey, Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw, and Mr Francis Addai Nimoh.

Mr Kyerematen, who was a former trade minister, ambassador and a strong candidate during the last search for a Director General for the World Trade Organisation, was born on October 3, 1955 in Kumasi. His father, Dr Alexander Atta Yaw Kyerematen, who was a social anthropologist, was at one time Mayor of Kumasi, as well as the founder and first director of the Ghana National Cultural Centre and a commissioner of local government between 1966 and 1969.

A founding member of the NPP since its establishment in 1992, he said, “I have served on the highest decision-making bodies that shaped the party’s strategic direction both in opposition and in government, including the National Executive Committee, serving as a member from 1992, as well as the Economic Management Team and finance committee.

Mr Kyerematen was also a founding member of the Young Executive Forum (YEF), a powerful advocacy and lobby group within the party that played a major role in galvanising the professional and business community to support the growth and development. “As chairman of the YEF, from 1992-2001, l championed the cause and aspirations of this new generation of party leaders, which included the late Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Albert Kan Dapaah, Peter Mac-Manu, Dr Anthony Osei, Kwabena Agyapong, Osei Agyei, the late Courage Quashigah, and Cecilia Dapaah, among others,” he added.

In preparing the NPP for a win in the 2016 elections, Mr Kyerematen said it will depend on a number of factors. First, he said, there is the need for a review of two successive election defeats in 2008 and 2012. “There is the need for a comprehensive and dispassionate analysis of why currently we are not in power and, by extension, interrogate why we have lost two successive elections that, for all intents and purposes, the NPP should have won convincingly,” he said.