The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reacted to Alan Kyerematen's decision to resign from the party, describing the political move as disheartening.Mr Kyerematen announced his resignation on September 25, 2023, when he addressed the country about his political ambitions ahead of the 2024 general elections during a press conference at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.

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The former Trade Minister noted that he no longer recognises the NPP, which has been unfair to himself and his supporters, as its current aims and agenda no longer reflect what the founding fathers had hoped to achieve.As such, he has distanced himself from the ruling government and will contest for the office of president as an independent candidate via a new political party, Movement for Change.

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"Fellow Countrymen and Women, I joined the New Patriotic Party at the very beginning of its establishment as a Founding Member, believing in its core values and the long-standing traditions of its antecedents, predicated on fairness, equity, probity, accountability, and transparency. I have devoted the best part of my professional career to serving the Party, and I still believe in the vision of the founding fathers of the Party.

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However, the NPP as it exists now has very little resemblance to the Party that I joined in 1992 and helped to nurture. The Party has been hijacked by a selected group of Party leaders and elders, government appointees, “behind the curtain power brokers” and some unscrupulous Party apparatchiks.

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"It was my fervent wish to use the vehicle of the Party to bring my God-given talents, experience, and knowledge acquired both locally and internationally over a period of 46 years, to serve our dear nation, Ghana at the highest level of executive authority.

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It is abundantly clear to me, that my services and contributions to the Party are not appreciated, and that my continuous stay in the Party will create further tension and division, which is an exact replay of circumstances that led to my decision to resign from the Party in 2008.

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"Fellow Countrymen and Women, Under the circumstances and given the context provided, I wish to use this platform to announce that I am honourably resigning with immediate effect from the New Patriotic Party to contest for the high office of the President of the Republic of Ghana in the 2024 General Elections, as an Independent Presidential Candidate," he said.

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Officially reacting to Mr Kyerematen's resignation during a press conference on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, the party’s General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua criticised Mr Kyerematen for failing to inform the leadership of party of his decision before broadcasting such sensitive information to over 31 million Ghanaians.

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"The disappointing part is the mode in which he decided to resign from the party, which was through a press conference without prior notice to the party," he said.Mr Frimpong Kodua holds the assertion that no initiative by the party would have been able to persuade Mr Kyerematen into boycotting his plans to part ways with the party.

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"The party wants to believe that by his decision to hold a press conference to resign without first informing the leadership of the party suggests that he made a premeditated and irrevocable decision to resign from the party."Meanwhile, the NPP has refuted claims that its virtues no longer reflect those of its founding fathers and that the party has been hijacked by some individuals, as alleged by Mr

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Kyerematen.

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