Had Ghanaians heeded my advice, we could have avoided seeking assistance from the IMF – Alan

Former Trade and Industry Minister and flagbearer aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, has stated that Ghana would not have returned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if the country had paid attention to his ideas and implemented them in the past.

Mr Kyerematen particularly singled out the President’s Special Initiatives (PSI), which was introduced under the John Agyekum Kufuor era as one of his ideas that would have been a game changer if it had been fully accepted by Ghanaians.

He was speaking at the commencement of his Greater Accra Delegates tour in the Ablekuma constituency in Accra.

“The amount of work I have done for this country, sometimes I even feel ashamed talking about it. In President Kufuor’s era, I was one of the senior ministers in Kufuor’s administration. I brought PSI (The President’s Special Initiatives), and if Ghanaians had listened to me, today Ghana wouldn’t have gone to the IMF.”

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor envisaged the President’s Special Initiatives as an opportunity to create a ‘Golden Age of Business’ stimulated by public-private partnerships and the creation of over 100,000 jobs.

The strategic intent of the PSIs, according to the NPP government, was to move Ghana’s economy beyond HIPC status and reduce the country’s over-dependence on aid and donor support and a few commodity exports by finding new pillars of growth.

As a member of Nana Akufo-Addo’s cabinet, Mr Kyerematen resigned from his position as Minister of Trade and Industry in January this year to reignite his presidential ambition.

He first made an attempt to lead the NPP in 2007, where he polled 32.3 per cent of votes as against the winner, Nana Akufo-Addo who gained 47.96 per cent.

He made two more attempts in 2010 and 2014 but came second to Akufo-Addo, who won both primaries again.

Mr Kyerematen, 68, was an Ambassador of Ghana to the United States and later Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development (PSD) and the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI), under the President John Kufuor-led NPP government.

He served as a trade advisor at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he coordinated the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC).

The governing NPP’s presidential primaries scheduled for November this year, is seen as a straight contest between Mr Kyerematen and the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

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