Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen (popularly called Alan Cash) (born 3 October 1955) is a Ghanaian politician. A corporate executive, a diplomat and an international public servant specializing in global trade issues, Kyerematen was Ambassador to the United States and later Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development (PSD) and the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI), under the President Kufuor-led NPP government.
Kyerematen 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).
Kyerematen made an attempt at the leadership of the New Patriotic Party in 2007, capturing 32.3% of the votes cast. He was first runner-up to Nana Akufo-Addo who gained 47.96% of votes cast.
Kyerematen made other attempts at the party’s leadership in 2010 and 2014 but placed second to Akufo-Addo, who won the primaries. In 2012, Ghana nominated Kyerematen for the post of WTO Director-General to succeeds out-going Director-General Pascal Lamy, and his candidature received the backing of the African Union (AU). However, he did not make the shortlist for the final selection process in 2013.
Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen was born on 3 October 1955 to Alexander Atta Yaw Kyerematen, a social anthropologist from Patasse, Kumasi and Victoria Kyerematen (née Welsing) from Elmina and Ejisu. He was named after an Archbishop of the Church of England, The Most Reverend Alan John Knight CMG DD who was the Headmaster of the all-boys Anglican boarding school, Adisadel College in Cape Coast in the 1930s, and a mentor to his father, A.A.Y.
Kyerematen when the elder Kyerematen was a student there and later, a Head Boy in his final year. In 1951, his father became the founder and first Director of the Centre for National Culture located in Kumasi of the Ashanti Region and later on, he was appointed the Mayor of Kumasi and a Commissioner of Local Government between 1966 and 1969. Like his father, Alan Kyerematen attended Adisadel College for his secondary education, entering the institution at the record age of nine years.
He attended the prestigious Achimota School afterwards for his sixth-form education. He proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon for a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Kyerematen also holds a Law degree, LLB from the Ghana Law School at the same university where he qualified as a Barrister-at-Law.
He was called to the bar in Ghana and is a practising attorney–at–law in Ghana. In addition, he is a Hubert Humphrey Fellow of the School of Management at the University of Minnesota, U.S., having completed one year of management studies under the Fulbright Fellowship program at that institution. And a good politician.
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