Alan wishes aspirants well ahead of NPP congress

Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, one of the front runners aspiring to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2012 general election has expressed appreciation about the way his four other aspirants have conducted themselves and gone about their campaign to lead NPP in the 2012 general election.
“I wish them God’s speed and guidance,” he told a gathering of media practitioners during an encounter in Accra on Monday, as part of his final leg of campaign prior to the August 7, 2010, congress.
Answering questions from the media practitioners, Mr Kyerematen who was a Minister of Trade, Industry and Presidential Special Initiatives in the Kufuor Administration described his colleague aspirants as “great friends.”
Mr Kyerematen, who was the runner up in the NPP 2007 presidential primaries, is contesting the flagbeareship position of the party with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the 2008 NPP Presidential Candidate, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a world-class Heart Surgeon, Mr Isaac Osei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Subin and former CEO of COCOBOB and a diplomat, as well as Rev. John Kwame Koduah, a lawyer.
He called on the aspirants to make a personal commitment to abide by the outcome of the congress which he was expecting to be free, fair and transparent.
He said that once the delegates made their choice on August 7, all the aspirants should abide by it and rally behind the chosen candidate for victory in the 2012 general election.
On the endorsement by President J. E. A. Mills, he described it as an honour for the sitting president to describe him as a “political giant.”
He said that he believed President Mills’ comment was made in a good spirit and thought that was very kind of him.
On whether he or Nana Akufo Addo could unite the party after one of them was declared the candidate elect, Mr Kyerematen said the NPP believed in competition and that unity was not an event but a process and the candidate elect must have the requisite skills to unite the party for victory.
“When you talk of a unifier, you are talking about a characteristic of a person,” he told the gathering, saying he has the disposition to unite the party.
He described the Presidential Special Initiatives as an innovative move by the Kufuor Administration to diversify Ghana’s export sector which was predominately cocoa driven to other equally beneficial semi or final products.
He said the PSIs were a public-private sector initiative that was meant to increase export and also create employment for numerous Ghanaians to earn decent living.
According to Mr Kyerematen, the cassava starch project under the PSIs was technically certified as fit industrial raw material for export to Nestle.
Regarding claims that about 80 per cent of NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) had endorsed Nana Akufo Addo, he said although he was not able to validate such claims, he preferred the endorsement of polling station executives who were about 100,000 in number to 230 MPs.
Regarding the issue of resignation, Mr Kyerematen explained that it was true that he wrote a letter of resignation but the party hierarchy refused to accept his resignation and took steps to address the issues that made him write the letter.