'I'm Ashanti/Fante, my wife is Kwahu/Akyem'

Speaking to his publicist, Charles Sam on Vibe FM last week and Metro TV this week, Alan Kyerematen said one of his strengths in the contest for the next presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party is his "ethnic balance.”

Marketing himself on Metro TV Tuesday night, Mr Kyerematen, who used “I” about 43 times in the one-hour interview to self-list his accomplishments, warned the NPP that ethnicity will be a major factor in the next election. But, he was quick to add that his “mixed heritage” offers him an advantage in countering any negative ethnocentric charge against the NPP. Alan, an Ejisu royal, explained that he has both Ashanti and Fante ancestry. His wife also has a mixed background, from Kwahu and Akyem, both in the Eastern Region.

Though, Ghana is not of an Akan homogeneity, according to the 2000 population census, 49.3 percent of the population are Akans. 16.6% of Ghanaians are of the sub-Akan group of Fantes. My Kyerematen's father, the late Dr A A Y Kyerematen hailed from Patase, Kumasi and Bompata, Asante Akyem. His mother Victoria Kyerematen (nee Welsing) is an Ejisu royal. Alan's maternal grandfather was from Elmina.

The outgoing Trade & Industry Minister and one of the leading candidates for the NPP flagbearership says he is marketable, with enough appeal to attract floating voters to the NPP. He has cautioned the party against confusing popularity with marketability. "You may be popular but for the wrong reasons," he argued.

He sees his "international exposure," as one of his main advantages for the top job.

Calling himself the "Senior Prefect" to the younger generation of NPP leaders, the 52-year old sees his age as placing him strategically as a bridge between the older and young generation.

He believes after the December 15 National Congress, the NPP needs a leader who can unite the party and that he is just the kind of man.

He also sees his roots in the party as founding member and chairman of the Young Executive Forum as offering him the long service credentials necessary to be taken seriously by the party.

Though his opponents are making some capital from the fact that he has never stood for elected office and that it would be too risky to present such an untested candidate to the general electorate in December 2008, Mr Kyerematen disagrees. He says the next flagbearer must have contributed to the party nationally for a long time, seeing that as more significant than just constituency work.

He says he brings to the presidency a strong private sector background. Mr Kyerematen’s campaign website, www.alank.org, describes him as having had "a distinguished and successful professional career in both the private sector and public sector in Ghana and abroad, spanning a period of 30 years. He was listed by Times International Magazine in 1994, as one of the top hundred Global Leaders of the New Millennium, alongside world renowned personalities such as Bill Gates of Microsoft and John F Kennedy Jnr."

Before his appointment in 2001 as President Kufuor’s first Ambassador to the United States, Mr Kyerematen was the founding Regional Director of UNDP’s Enterprise Africa, for private sector and entrepreneurship development in Africa.

Before that, in 1990, he was responsible for establishing the EMPRETEC Programme in Ghana, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme and Barclays Bank Ghana Ltd. The website reads, "It is conservatively estimated that 70% of Ghana’s high flying entrepreneurs are products of Mr Kyerematen’s successful Empretec programme in Ghana."

Mr Kyerematen is a graduate in Economics from the University of Ghana, and is also a qualified lawyer. In addition, he was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the School of Management of the University of Minnesota, under the United States Fulbright Fellowship Program. He entered Adisadel College at the record age of 9 years, and thereafter attended Achimota School for his sixth form education.