Alan Kyerematen: The story of a loyal patriot whose time has come

Prov. 11:25:

The year was 2007, the venue was the University of Ghana Great Hall, Legon and the purpose was the first Flagbearership contest after the NPP has won power.

In this second part write-up, I seek to tell the story of Alan Kyerematen’s mammoth sacrifice and how this selflessness, loyalty, and courage greatly helped the party to be successful.

In the history of every organization, there are pivotal moments where a decision can take it forward or backwards.

The leader has to be bold in the watershed moment to take the risk and exhibit character to make the mammoth sacrifices to guarantees the win for the entire organization.

THE IDEAL FLAGBEARER:

On the eve of the 2007 Legon primaries, a courageous decision was made by Alan Kyerematen that shocked everyone present.

Yes! It shocked every one both friend and competitor alike.

It revealed the real person and character of the man who gave our current President Nana Akufo Addo a run for his money.

In all honesty, it was a decision many never expected due to the intensity and significance of the moment.

The ideal Flagbearer should be someone who isn’t afraid to put the party first before himself.

It should be someone willing to take a bullet for the party and also one who wins his position through sacrifice and long service.

The ULTIMATE SACRIFICE THAT SAVED NPP:

History is a great reminder and teacher.

This magnanimous act of Alan Kyerematen at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon, helped save the party from splitting up.

The NPP as a party has a tradition that is anchored on three (3) core values or ideals; They are Loyalty, Long Service, and Sacrifice.

Many in the party believed then that candidate Nana Addo had the upper hand with regards to the three (3) traditional values against the younger candidate Alan who at the time was making his first attempt for the flagbearership position.

This long-held tradition was confirmed by a moved and relieved candidate Akufo Addo who was spared the energy, toil, and sweat of a second round of the election, after a tough and grueling contest involving seventeen (17) aspirants had run into the early hours of the following day.

Alan Kyerematen by this ultimate act proved that he believes and practices those higher values.

That he lives a life of sacrifice and duty to these higher values.

He lets everything fall as it may at the long Congress in Legon and he wasn’t moved to win at all cost.

At that moment, he sacrifices the present to what is right and allows posterity and history to be the best judge of his actions.

As the party seeks to elect a successor to Nana Addo in 2023, it is this kind of man that has earned his place as the “incoming” and personifies the ideal Flagbearer.

Alan’s story is one of sacrificing to the party’s high values of unity and togetherness.

A sacrifice to which with all humility, he readily embraced without promptings from anyone, in the heat of the moment when the stakes were so high and all cards were on the table.

These cherished traditional ideals of the party will once again are called upon, especially with the impending flagbearership contest.

The current President Nana Addo boldly declared in his victory speech on the eve of the primaries to Alan; “All I can say to him is what my predecessors' Flagbearer (President Kufuor) said to me..., he has to be President first before I become President”.

This Legon declaration by President Nana Addo, clarifies the concept of the NPP tradition and points to Alan as the incoming Flagbearer after His Excellency the President for the flagbearership position.

THE PRACTICAL TEST OF LOYALTY:

There can be no further proof of Alan's loyalty and love for the party than the sacrifice of the 2007 contest.

Alan had run the most efficient and effective campaign amongst all the aspirants and it was no surprise he emerged with Nana Addo out of the seventeen (17) candidates.

Alan Kyerematen in his concession speech stated the motive for his decision to not contest for the second round of voting; it was for the unity of the party at the risk of his political career.

He stated that, “In order not to further deepen the divisions In the party, I would rather support my senior brother Nana Akufo Addo, for us to fight together to win power.”

The unity of the party was the foremost concern to him when he decided not to contest the second round.

Not many politicians will have the courage and be willing to pay such a great prize.

Only real and loyal Patriots will take such a huge self-sacrificing decision.
This is a perfect profile of courage and makes Alan a rare breed of a politician not only in Ghana but across the world.

Alan Kyerematen wasn't afraid to make the humongous sacrifice for the ultimate good of the party when he very well knew it will go against him.

His great decision saved the party, ensuring that it remained united and ready to go into the 2008 general elections to win power.

Paul Adom Okyere in his subsequent interview with Alan remarked, “Perhaps the party will one day have to congratulate you for that“.

A true Patriot, in the person of Alan Kyerematen, has surely paid his dues to the party and has passed the loyalty test of not just been in the party for his ambitions but for the ultimate aim of helping the party win power even if he has to step down for his senior brother the current President.

CONCLUSION:

The next flag bearer of the party must be someone who personifies the three (3) chief values of Loyalty, long service, and sacrifice.

Alan Kyerematen has risen through the ranks of the party and has been processed by time, has stayed the party as a founding member and ultimately weathered the internal political storms that mature and prepare an individual to have the capacity to lead a giant political party like the NPP to win power in a general election.

In 2023, his ultimate sacrifice will present him with an eventual and inevitable collision of opportunities coupled with competence that will rocket him to be the next Flagbearer.

This loyal Patriot will undoubtedly be remembered by the party delegates when the decision time comes for a new leader to take over the NPP flagbearership.

I conclude with this quote from the message version of the holy scriptures; “...And he who waters will himself be watered [reaping the generosity he has sown]”. (The Message Version, Proverbs 11:25).

The End...!