Kyerematen pushes private-sector growth plan and urges voters to end NPP-NDC dominance in 2028

Pinned summary · as of 05:29

Alan Kyerematen, who founded and leads the United Party, has spent the past week making a case for a fresh economic and political course. At a public lecture in Accra he argued for a growth model driven by private enterprise, and in a Sunday interview on Joy Prime he asked Ghanaians to use the 2028 election to break the hold of the NPP and NDC. He was a trade and industry minister under the NPP before leaving it, and he contested the 2024 presidential race as an independent.

What we know

• Kyerematen, who once served as trade and industry minister, gave a public lecture in Accra hosted by the think-tank CENSADEV, arguing that Ghana must move beyond macroeconomic stability towards deeper economic transformation.
• At the lecture he said private initiative and ownership should sit at the centre of policy, alongside industrialisation, a farming overhaul, expanded exports and a friendlier climate for business. He also asked for a permanent forum where companies can raise policy and regulatory concerns with government, Graphic Online and MyJoyOnline reported.
• His proposals, as reported by Graphic Online and MyJoyOnline, include growing non-traditional export revenue to $25 billion by 2030, up from a little over $3 billion today, and selling no less than 40% of the equity in workable public companies through the stock exchange, giving ordinary citizens a stake.
• He picked oil palm, cassava, garments and textiles as industries worth building, urged local production of aluminium and steel from Ghana's bauxite and iron, and asked for the many statutory charges at the ports to be merged.
• Kyerematen praised the fall in inflation and the steadier cedi, yet advised against leaning heavily on foreign-exchange reserves to hold the currency, saying stronger exports and more confidence in the economy are needed.
• In an interview on Joy Prime on Sunday, 28 September, he appealed to Ghanaians to use the 2028 election as a strategic choice that would finish the grip of the NPP and NDC on power.
• He held the two parties, which have dominated politics for 34 years, responsible for continuing gaps in development, pointing to roads, water supply, the school placement system and health care.
• Kyerematen described himself as a seasoned politician who is known across the country either by sight or by his brand name, Alan Cash.
• He founded the Movement for Change and ran for president in 2024 without a party ticket; he has since set up the United Party.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Reports differ on the date of the CENSADEV lecture and its title. Onua Online placed it on Wednesday, 23 September under a theme that ended in prosperity, while Graphic Online and MyJoyOnline gave 24 September and a theme that ended in growth.
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  Onua Online reported that at the lecture Kyerematen questioned the government's plan to put public money into the Accra-Kumasi Expressway, which the government puts at about US$4 billion, saying a road that can carry tolls should be left to private financiers. The site also quoted Mahama as saying US$2 billion has been set aside. These points come from that one report and have not been confirmed elsewhere.
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  Onua Online also reported that he called for a single-digit policy rate, clearer national performance targets, and an explanation for why Ghana still lacks a working national airline. No other report includes these remarks.
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  The Press Radio reported that in a Channel One TV interview on 21 September he said two years of better figures are too short a record to call the economy stable, and that growth of 8% to 10% a year over a decade would be a firmer basis. This account has not been corroborated.
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  The Vaultz News reported that Kyerematen puts at 2.1 million the number of people who backed the NPP in 2020 but did not vote for it in 2024, and that he reads this as disengagement rather than a shift to the NDC. The figure is his own analysis and has not been checked by any other report.
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  MyNewsGH reported that he promised to say soon what obstacles his Movement for Change met in the 2024 election, and that standing as an independent put the movement at a disadvantage when dealing with the Electoral Commission. No other report carries this, and the Electoral Commission's response is not given.
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  MyNewsGH also reported that he criticised Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, said patients still struggle with laboratory bills and medicines, and conceded that both big parties had contributed to development. This rests on a single report.
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  MyJoyOnline reported his explanation that he entered the 2024 race as an independent because time was too short to build a full party after he left the NPP in September 2023. No other report includes this account.

Why it matters for Ghana

Kyerematen is presenting the United Party as an alternative to the two parties that have taken turns in government, so his arguments feed the debate over the choices voters will face in 2028. His export, state-company share and port-charge ideas would matter to traders, farmers and investors, though none is government policy. His remarks on roads, water, school placement and health care echo daily worries in households across Ghana.