Accra: A founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has stated that former Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, missed critical opportunities by resigning from the party at an inopportune time. Speaking to GhanaWeb's Etsey Atisu on The Lowdown, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe argued that Kyerematen should have resigned much earlier, particularly during the period when the Akufo-Addo administration faced a corruption scandal.
According to Ghana Web, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe believes that an earlier resignation would have significantly influenced public perception about Kyerematen and ultimately strengthened his political leadership. He stated, "Alan Kyerematen resigned at the wrong time. If I were him, I would have resigned immediately... That is the first time he should have advised himself and left that particular government. And people would have looked at him differently."
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe further elaborated that Kyerematen's decision to remain part of the government during numerous infractions was detrimental to his political image. "He stayed in and there were numerous infractions; serious ones. He was still part of the government. He never commented against it, and he was there. And that has been the common behavior of our political ideas," he added.
He also noted that Kyerematen's decision to leave and form his own political ideas came too late in his career. Kyerematen first resigned from the NPP on April 17, 2008, after losing in the 2007 NPP flagbearership race. He rejoined the NPP and continued his political journey, only to resign for the second time in September 2023, surprising many after coming third in the party's super delegates conference held on August 26, 2026, for its presidential aspirants.
The former NPP stalwart expressed that he had endured unfair treatment from the NPP for about 15 years. He recounted his experience in the 2007 presidential primaries, where he faced accusations that diminished his popularity among grassroots activists. "This strategy was designed to create disfavour against me, in an attempt to diminish my popularity and the massive support I enjoyed amongst the grassroot activists of the party," Kyerematen remarked.
Kyerematen also raised concerns about hostility and brutality towards him and his supporters despite the sacrifices he made for NPP. In 2023, he rebranded his "Movement for Change" into a new political entity named the United Party (UP), also referred to as UP Plus. Launched in Accra in October 2025, the party seeks to challenge the dominance of the NPP and the NDC.