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Opinions of Thursday, 12 January 2023

Columnist: Arnold Appiah

Alan Kyerematen's transformational agenda is shallow, lacks substance and nothing tangible

Immediate past Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen Immediate past Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen

The NDC Professionals Forum – USA is compelled to ridicule the so-called transformational agenda by Mr. Alan Kyerematen as shallow, lacks substance and nothing tangible. Per a review of the speech delivered by the former trade minister, he did not come out as someone who has thoroughly researched the challenges of our country to understand the right remedies to fix the country.

Mr. Alan Kyerematen appeared confused as in one breath claiming the Nana Addo administration has laid a strong foundation for the socio-economic development of our country and at the same time alluding to the fact that “akyea enso embu y3. To wit, the country is broken into pieces, but there is still hope.

Mr. Alan Kyerematen has shown that he is not different from Dr. Bawumia and President Nana Addo. Indeed, Mr. Kyerematen is a member of the economic management team who has run down the economy of Ghana.

Inflation is all-time high, unemployment is high, cost of living is high, interest rates are high and the cost of doing business is at an all-time high. The cedi depreciation against the dollar is enough to tell the state of our economy.

Mr. Kyerematen must know that the good people of Ghana knew that the economy had suffered massive shocks due to mismanagement by the economic management team before Covid. The excuse of Covid and the war between Russia and Ukraine is flimsy and untenable. Ghana derives its major revenues from the sale of its raw materials.

Therefore, we must interrogate how much Ghana lost during Covid. Did the price of gold, cocoa, oil, and other commodities go down and how badly did it affect the economy in terms of cost? Also, Mr. Alan Kyerematen must explain the over a billion dollars Ghana earned through Covid for the purposes of accountability. Ghanaians are still in the dark about how the funds were spent.

Mr. Alan Kyerematen acknowledged and posited that Ghana has gone to IMF 17 times and promised not to go back again. What’s fascinating is his claim that “One of the lessons learnt from the recent developments is that Ghana’s economy is still fragile, vulnerable and susceptible to both external and domestic shocks”.

This is old public knowledge and for someone who has been in government before, under Ex-President Kufour, one would have thought he would have learnt all these lessons and proffered the necessary solutions under Nana Addo.

PROFORUM USA wants to remind Mr. Kyerematen that all the policies touted by his NPP government have all failed. Absolutely none of them worked or achieved anything significant. It’s been a waste of time and resources under his NPP government.

Institutional transformation is key to the progress of our country but unfortunately, Mr. Alan Kyerematen does not have the credentials to be able to make it happen. PROFORUM USA wishes to assure the good people of Ghana that a more detailed interrogation of the speech will be done to expose the hypocrisy, incompetence and cluelessness of Mr. Alan Kyerematen and his GTP rhetoric.