As Ghana heads towards another election next year, the attention of many Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, is increasingly turning to the quality of leadership the nation needs in 2009 and beyond. We have now had almost 16 years of uninterrupted multi-party democracy, which is a great achievement that all Ghanaians should be proud of.

The great question facing Ghanaians is the kind of leadership that Ghana should have after President Kufuor leaves office in January 2009. In spite of the great work that President Kufuor has done, we still have monumental challenges that must be overcome. The new president must be a person with a great vision and ideas to propel the country to the next higher level of economic development and to make significant and continuous improvement in the quality of life for the majority of Ghanaians, particularly the poor.

Our dear nation, Ghana at the moment is experiencing its longest history of economic growth and political stability under President Kufuor. We need a smart leader or President with a broad vision and integrity, and a person who can smoothly and effectively move our nation from this transitional point, to a track of sustainable economic growth and political stability for the benefit of all Ghanaians. The need for such a leader is even more important with the recent discovery of oil in Ghana. We need a leader who understands basic economic elements and who would be able to implement sound economic and trade policies to manage our “black gold”.

An emerging economy, such as ours, requires an effective leader with the ideal vision and ideas, and it is paramount for the next president to have the personal traits of honesty, high code of ethics, respect for democratic principles, emotional stability, energetic, and high integrity. The person who meets these criteria is Alan Kyerematen, the former Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and the President’s Special Initiatives (PSI).

Alan has the vision and ideas for Ghana, the dedication and the drive to work energetically to see his ideas become a reality. He is very results-oriented and sees opportunity in every difficult situation and has the conviction that our socio-economic challenges can be adequately overcome. Most importantly he has the initiative and willingness to try something new – think outside the “box” to make significant improvements in the overall quality of life for the people of Ghana.

Let us take a look at Alan the person, his relationship with the NPP, and some of the tangible results from his private-public sector endeavors, all of which demonstrate his exemplary effective leadership skills.

As a person, Alan Kyerematen has the humility, charisma, personal integrity, and temperament to lead the country. Alan believes in leadership as public service to his fellow citizens and that leaders are chosen to serve their people. Over the years, Mr. Kyerematen has demonstrated that he is capable of effectively working with all people, even those with divergent view on issues. Alan believes in the strength of our diversity in working to achieve our collective national goals.

Service to the NPP

Alan is a Founding member of the NPP. He has been a loyal member of the party and has borne true faith and allegiance to the NPP by serving the party in various capacities since its formation in 1992. As the Chairman of the Young Executive Forum (YEF) during the tough and difficult days of the PNDC/NDC regimes, Alan, through his strong organizational skills, led the YEF to provide a strong and viable financial and logistical backbone to the NPP while in opposition. His leadership role in the YEF led to his membership of the party’s National Executive Committee, Economic Management Team and the Finance Committees in 1992. He was a member of the NPP/PCP Great Alliance Negotiating Team in 1996 that resulted in the NPP increasing its parliamentary seats in the Central and Western Regions.

Alan, by effectively executing the plans and programs of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, shaped and crafted the ministry into a vibrant, technology-driven, competitive trade and industrial sector. This has contributed significantly to job creation for the youth, particularly those in the rural communities. This has led to economic growth, which ultimately will lead to the Diversification and Structural Transformation of Ghana’s economy. Under the leadership of Alan, export earnings of the Ministry of Trade increased from US$1.6 billion in 2002 to US$3.4 billion in 2006 for traditional exports while non-traditional exports shot up from US$400 million to US$897 million during the same period.

EMPRETEC – Ghana

Alan successfully transformed EMPRETEC from a small UNDP project with a staff of 3 into a viable, independent foundation, which is now an internationally recognized model for sustainable private sector development services in Africa.

President’s Special Initiatives (PSI):

Garments & Textiles: Under his watch, the PSI on Garments & Textiles has resulted in the creation of 3,200 jobs through 15 new companies which have been established. Over 7,000 sewing operators have been trained through Clothing Technology and Training Centers established in Accra and Kumasi. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has opened up the US markets for Ghanaian products. Companies such as the Sleek Garment Factory in Accra, this year exported 75,000 casual rayon shirts valued at over 200,000 USD to a US department store. Through the policies implemented by his ministry, Ghana now accounts for about 95% of all AGOA textile and apparel exports from West Africa.

Cassava: The first industrial starch manufacturing plant in the country (Ayensu Starch Company Limited) has been established at Bawjiase, Central Region with the capacity to produce 20,000 tons of high grade cassava starch per year. 8,000 farmers are currently participating in farming operations to feed the factory. Long-term orders for cassava starch have been secured from Nestle Worldwide operations, based on successful product testing and a comprehensive technical audit of the factory.

Palm Oil: 30 new nurseries have been established in 5 regions, with the production capacity of 4 million seedlings per year. 200,000 hectares of land have been mobilized as equity from landowners under the Equity Swap scheme. Modern Oil Processing plants are being established in 5 strategic locations. The result of this is the employment of 450,000 farmers and workers.

District Industrialization Program (DIP):

Alan created this program to support the establishment of at least one flagship commercially-viable industrial enterprise, in each of the 138 districts of Ghana, in partnership with communities, the private sector, and the district assemblies. Over 70,000 people are projected to be directly employed in the first 2 years of the program’s operations.

Revitalization of Distressed Industries

Through his creativity and visionary leadership, factories that were abandoned over 16 years ago have been successfully rejuvenated. The former Juapong Textiles is now functional under the name of Volta Star Textiles Limited and has given jobs to some of the young men/women of Peki and the surrounding areas. This will improve the economic lives of the people in that part of the Volta Region.

The Tomato factory at Pwalugu (Upper East Region) has been successfully revived under a public-private sector partnership under the name of Northern Star Tomato Company Limited. At full operation, the 500-metric ton capacity plant could process about 25 articulated truck loads of tomatoes daily into paste in drums for canning at a private Italian company, Trusty Foods Limited, located in Tema. The factory’s operations will guarantee a ready market for tomato producers in the 10 districts of the region. Tomato farmers, who ordinarily would have sold their produce at less than 60,000 Old Cedis a crate, are now offered 120,000 Old Cedis per crate by the factory. The net effect of this is an enormous improvement in the economic lives of the people through the creation of jobs and wealth.

Business Development Services to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Alan successfully implemented the 118 million USD Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises project which is to address the perennial problems of inadequate access to finance, poor market information, inadequate infrastructure, obsolete technology and regulatory bottlenecks. The project is already producing results by enhancing access to credit, supporting the development of infrastructure to allow market access and trade facilitation. The project was financed by the two private sector arms of the World Bank Group – International Development Agency (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Alan Kyerematen is a visionary leader with ideas and the resourcefulness to improve the quality of life for Ghanaians as a whole. His dynamism, integrity, humility, results-oriented nature, and a sense of inclusiveness, will enable ALL Ghanaians to work effectively together to achieve his vision of taking Ghana to a higher economic level. He has had an excellent preparation for the job of the President, his duties as a Minister, Ambassador, a Corporate Executive and a senior official at UNDP, give him the necessary qualifications/skill-sets needed to lead our country in 2009 and beyond. The man is very passionate about Ghana and Africa, is honest, trustworthy, hardworking, eloquent, and likeable and has the charisma to lead our country.

Alan is marketable and winnable. He has a broad-based appeal. Alan’s appeal cuts across gender, ethnic/tribal, social and economic lines. He is well respected and admired by the youth and the old, and is capable of taping the rich experiences of the aged and the enthusiasm of the youth and using them for the development of the country.

• Alan has fresh and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of our time

• He is inclusive, positive, uplifting, visionary and competent

• Alan has the humility, temperament, and the tenacity to lead the country

• He is a results-oriented person with a clear and solid vision for our nation

• He has the integrity and courage to drive an ambitious agenda for the nation

• He will place the nation’s interest first above self interest pursuits

• He has a formidable track record of excellence and accomplishments

• He is passionate about Ghana and Africa

• Alan is an honest, God-fearing person whose interest in politics is to serve his fellow citizens

• He has the international experience, stature and respectability which are some of the requisite characteristics of national leadership in contemporary politics.

• He is intelligent, smart, a team-player, and has an open mind on issues.

• Alan is charismatic and has the personality that inspires others.

The Presidency is ultimately about Vision and Ideas, and Alan’s are encapsulated in his four pillars of success, which are Industrialization, Infrastructural Development, Information & Communication Technology and Tourism. The honorable members of the NPP Electoral College should do the right thing by selecting Alan as our great party’s flag bearer on December 22nd, 2007, to ultimately lead us to victory in 2008.