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Alan Kyerematen, once affectionately dubbed “Alan Cash” by the Ghanaian public, stood at the pinnacle of political opportunity during his popularity. The moniker, a nod to his ability to mobilise resources and connect with ordinary Ghanaians, symbolised his charisma, appeal to grassroots supporters, and potential to unite a divided political base. However, political analysts now argue that his best chance to contest Ghana’s presidency slipped through his fingers during the early years of the Fourth Republic. Alan Kyerematen first garnered significant attention when he contested the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) primaries in 2007 against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Though Akufo-Addo won the party’s ticket to contest the 2008 presidential election, his defeat to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, John Evans Atta Mills, marked a turning point. Many political commentators believe that Kyerematen’s withdrawal from the political limelight after this loss signalled the beginning of his waning influence. The Missed Moment of Political Prominence Renowned political scientist Prof. Ransford Gyampo of the University of Ghana argues that 2008 presented a unique opportunity for Kyerematen to solidify his position as a viable presidential candidate. “The electorate was yearning for a leader who could resonate with the grassroots and the middle class. Alan Kyerematen had the charisma and a track record in trade and industry that could have appealed to a broader segment of the Ghanaian populace,” Gyampo stated during a recent panel discussion on Ghanaian politics. At the time, Ghana’s economic challenges and the NDC’s focus on social welfare policies created an opening for a candidate who could present a fresh vision for economic transformation. “Alan had the chance to redefine the NPP’s narrative and capture the hearts of Ghanaians seeking change,” noted political analyst Dr. Franklin Oduro. “Unfortunately, he chose to play second fiddle to Akufo-Addo, and the party underestimated the public’s appetite for new leadership.” Rise and Decline: The Alan Cash Phenomenon The nickname “Alan Cash” was a testament to Kyerematen’s ability to mobilise resources and connect with ordinary Ghanaians. His campaigns often showcased his vision for industrialisation and trade, drawing from his tenure as Ghana’s Trade Minister under President John Kufuor. His role in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and his promotion of Ghanaian exports earned him local and international recognition. However, political observers argue that his subsequent role in the Akufo-Addo administration diminished his standing. As Minister of Trade and Industry from 2017 to 2023, Kyerematen spearheaded initiatives such as the One District, One Factory (1D1F) policy. While the initiative sought to boost industrialisation and job creation, its mixed results have become a point of contention. Critics argue that the policy failed to deliver significant economic transformation, which hurt Kyerematen’s credibility as a leader who could bring tangible change. “Alan’s association with a government that many Ghanaians perceive as having underperformed has eroded his political capital,” said Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG). “The perception of unfulfilled promises and economic mismanagement has overshadowed his contributions.” A Waning Influence in the NPP Kyerematen’s recent decision to resign from the NPP and run as an independent candidate for the 2024 elections underscores his diminishing influence within the party. His departure highlights the fractures within the NPP and raises questions about his ability to rally support beyond his loyal base. Some political watchers view his independent candidacy as a desperate move to reclaim relevance in a political landscape that has largely moved on. “Running independently is risky in a polarised political environment like Ghana’s. Without the backing of a major party, his chances of winning are slim,” said Dr Michael Osei, a lecturer in political science at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Lessons from the Past and Prospects for the Future The broader lesson from Alan Kyerematen’s political trajectory is the importance of timing in leadership. His inability to capitalise on his peak popularity during the late 2000s is a stark warning for aspiring leaders. It’s a cautionary tale that underscores the need to seize opportunities when they arise. Yet, some believe that his legacy can still be salvaged. By articulating a clear vision for Ghana’s future and distancing himself from the shortcomings of the Akufo-Addo administration, Kyerematen could regain some public trust. “The key is to focus on solutions to Ghana’s pressing issues, such as unemployment, corruption, and economic instability,” noted Dr Oduro. Conclusion Alan Kyerematen’s rise and fall within Ghanaian politics reflect the complex interplay of ambition, timing, and public perception. While his “Alan Cash” era symbolised hope and possibility, his association with an underperforming government and his delayed push for leadership have left many wondering what might have been. As Ghana heads into the 2024 elections, the political landscape is unlikely to favour independent candidates. However, Kyerematen’s story reminds us that leadership requires vision and the ability to seize the moment when it arrives.

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FAILING authorities missed at least 15 opportunities to put Sara Sharif in a safe home before she was beaten to death. They included reports from her siblings of dad Urfan Sharif’s violence as long as ten years before she died. Advertisement 5 Failing authorities missed at least 15 opportunities to put Sara Sharif in a safe home before she was beaten to death 5 Sara’s school also logged bruises on their internal computer, without formally passing those concerns on to social services Credit: PA Social workers spotted burn marks on children and were told Sharif slapped a child around the face and that he waved a knife around the home. Sara’s school also logged bruises on their internal computer, without formally passing those concerns on to social services. The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza , said it showed Britain’s child protection system had a “profound weakness” which “we have failed time and time again to correct”. And Sara’s MP in Woking, Will Forster, called for an immediate inquest to understand how the system let her down. Advertisement READ MORE ON SARA SHARIF KILLERS SNARED Moment armed cops storm Gatwick plane to arrest Sara Sharif's dad & stepmum EERILY CALM Moment Sara Sharif's stepmum says 'no comment' when asked if she loved girl He said: “It is heartbreaking to think of the warning signs that were missed that allowed her to die at the hands of those who were meant to protect her.” But Surrey County Council said: “It is clear the perpetrators went to extreme lengths to conceal the truth from everyone.” It will now launch a safeguarding review, which is expected to appoint a cultural adviser. Sara was known to social services from the day she was born in 2013 — yet 15 opportunities were missed by authorities. Advertisement Most read in The Sun SEARCH ENDS Missing traveler is found after month-long search that led to dad's suicide GET OUT I'm an ex-Gers star who was sacked after one game - I was surprised I got that long Exclusive JUNGLE WINNINGS Coleen Rooney signs first big money deal after I’m A Celeb success Breaking WORLD ORDER World Cup 2030 & 2034 confirmed with latter part of £2.5TRILLION Saudi project JANUARY 2013: Sara was made subject to a child protection plan at birth because of Urfan Sharif being accused of attacking three women including her mother, as well as hitting and biting two children. But she was allowed to remain with her father. Sara Sharif's stepmother replies no comment when asked by police whether she loved or cared about the 10-year-old FEBRUARY 22, 2013: A month after Sara was born, social services and police were told that Sharif had slapped a child around the face. Nothing was done. Advertisement MAY 7, 2013: A social worker spotted a burn mark on a child’s leg. Sharif failed to report the incident and claimed it was a barbecue accident. Nothing was done. OCTOBER 7, 2013: A child was seen with a burn mark made by a domestic iron. Sharif told social services the child had bumped into the appliance. Advertisement No action was taken. 2013 TO 2014: A child told a social worker that Sharif smashed up a TV and punched Sara’s mother Olga . NOVEMBER 2014: Sara was taken into foster care after a child told a social worker about a bite mark. But she later returned to live with her father following a family court hearing in October 2019 where social services recommended Sara lived with her father because that was her preference. Advertisement JANUARY 2015: Sharif was reported to social services for ­waving a knife around at home in what he said was a zombie game. Social workers noted that Sharif hit and kicked Olga at home and the pair threatened to kill each other. FEBRUARY 2015: A child told their foster carer that Sharif used to hit them on the bottom with a belt. In September that year the child was heard to say to Sharif: “When you’re at home you hit and kick me every day.” Advertisement 2015: Olga told social services about Sharif tightening a belt around her neck. Around this time social workers complained Sharif was coercive and derogatory towards them. A male social worker was then appointed to the family. DECEMBER 2016: A child told a social worker they did not like Sharif because he punched them all over their body and gave them lots of bruises. Advertisement Social workers saw Sara flinch when Sharif told her off during supervised contact and seem ­surprised when he cuddled her. JUNE 6, 2022: A teacher reported that Sara had a bruise under her eye, using the school’s online child protection monitoring system. Sara initially would not say what happened, before later saying another child hit her. But no referral was made to social services. Advertisement 5 Sara was known to social services from the day she was born in 2013 Credit: PA MARCH 10, 2023: A teacher saw bruises on Sara’s face. Sara said she had fallen on roller skates. When she gave a different story to a safeguarding lead, the school made a referral to social services. Advertisement Six days later social services decided to take no further action. It is understood there had been no contact between social services and Sara’s family for four years at this point. Social services categorised the case as the second highest priority and asked other agencies for information. When nothing came back, the case was closed. Advertisement MARCH 20, 2023: A report was logged on the school’s internal system after Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool was overheard referring to children as “motherf***er, sister f***er, b**** and whore” in the playground. But no details were passed to social services. MARCH 28, 2023: Batool claimed a mark on Sara’s face was caused by a pen. The teacher told the school safeguarding lead. Advertisement APRIL 17, 2023: Sharif decided to home-school Sara. School staff rang the council for advice and were told they should make a referral if there were concerns. Staff saw Sara later that day at school pick-up and she seemed fine so they decided against it, even though she had been beaten earlier that day. She was never seen outside the home again. Advertisement Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel said: “Her death is a heartbreaking reminder of the profound weaknesses in our child protection system that, as a country, we have failed time and time again to correct. Read more on the Scottish Sun SNOW JOKE Snow maps reveal the Scotland areas forecast to have a white Christmas OFF THE AIR 'Gutted to hear this', fans cry as BBC Scotland series axed after 19 years “We have been here before — and each time we have said ‘never again’. Sara’s death must also bring about an immediate shift in how we protect children like her.” Rachael Wardell, executive director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning at Surrey County Council, said: “We are resolute in our commitment to protecting children, and we are determined to play a full and active part in the forthcoming review alongside ­partner agencies, to thoroughly understand the wider circumstances surrounding Sara’s tragic death.” 5 Sharif fled to Pakistan after the horror Advertisement 5 Beinash Batool also fled the country with Sharif and his brother Faisal Malik Hijab used to hide injuries By Ed Southgate AUTHORITIES are facing questions over whether cultural and religious issues affected decision-making in the Sara Sharif case. It is expected a cultural adviser will be appointed to the safeguarding review to examine how it would affect certain areas. Ten-year-old Sara was forced to wear a hijab to conceal injuries — but her wicked stepmum Beinash Batool did not wear one. Ex-neighbour Chloe Redwin told jurors she spoke with Sharif and Batool when she first saw Sara in a headscarf, commenting that she looked nice in it. Ms Redwin said Sharif claimed Sara was “learning about the faith”, and that she “wanted to explore more”. She also said the way Batool spoke to her about it was “abrupt, almost as if she wanted the conversation to end”. Another neighbour said he felt it was odd Sara had only her eyes covered, as nobody else in the family wore Asian dress. He never saw any injuries, but could not know as she was so covered. One witness who saw Sara with bruises said she wore a headscarf that was “very low”. Rather than simply covering her hair, as would be the norm, it was worn “very low, almost ­covering her forehead”. Friends of Sara’s birth mum Olga also claim a Muslim social worker once told her to stop being “selfish”, to return to Poland, and to let Sara enjoy an upbringing in a Muslim family. 'Locked up' over a man SARA Sharif’s stepmother Beinash Batool was abused by her own family. At 18, they objected to a man she wanted to marry and she was held against her will at her uncle’s house in the UK for weeks. Batool was also assaulted by her grandad. She was born to a “very traditional” Pakistani family with three sisters and a brother, and was said to be instrumental in courts deciding Sara should live with her and Sharif. But she refused to give dental impressions after bites were found on Sara’s body. Brother but an outsider FAISAL Malik was born to a large family in Pakistan in 1995 — but he did not grow up with his brother Urfan. Malik travelled to the UK in 2022 to study at Portsmouth University. It was the first time he had left Pakistan. He was not close to Urfan who felt obliged to let him live with his family. Malik, 29, worked at McDonald’s and would often leave the home to escape tensions between Urfan and Batool. His barrister suggested that after the trio fled to Pakistan it was Malik who first said he was returning to the UK.OTTUMWA — The Fairfield boys basketball team was riding high going into the second quarter on Tuesday night. The Trojans had scored eight of the first 11 points in their annual early-season rivalry renewal with Ottumwa and were holding on to a 13-12 lead after 3A state high jump champion Eli Zillman made his presence felt. Zillman sank a go-ahead 3-pointer on one end of the court before utilizing his elite leaping skills to block Chase Thompson's attempt to put Ottumwa back on top just before the end of the period. Over the next eight minutes, however, the Bulldogs would take over the game on both ends of the court. Thompson would get his revenge on the Trojans immediately by sinking a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second quarter, giving Ottumwa the lead for good to open a decisive period as the Bulldogs held Fairfield without a field goal for nearly nine minutes during a 13-1 run that would ultimately prove to be the difference in a 54-46 victory, allowing Ottumwa to bounce back after opening the season one week earlier with a 62-39 loss to Iowa City High. "You always feel better when you get a win. That second quarter is how I expect our team to play for 32 minutes," Ottumwa head boys basketball coach Neil Hartz said. "We know we can do it for one quarter. Now, we have to do it for four quarters. The intensity and talking was huge for us. We didn't do a very good job of that against Iowa City High. In this game, we were switching everything." That defensive intensity forced Fairfield almost exclusively for long jumpers, including multiple shots with the shot clock running out after possessions in which the Trojans could not find the passing lanes into the post. Lucas Konczal was able to make his way to the free throw line shortly after Thompson's go-ahead 3-pointer, making one attempt to put Fairfield on the board early in the second quarter. It would prove to be the only point the Trojans would score until a 3-pointer on the opening possession of the second half by Andrew Myers. In between, the Bulldogs not only stymied Fairfield's half-court attack, but turned Trojan turnovers into instant points with steals leading to lay-ups for Nehemiah Wolfing and Kase Hickman, opening a 22-14 Ottumwa lead. "The intensity on defense and our communication was really the difference in that quarter," Ottumwa senior Traevios Brown said. "Our whole team was in synch. Any mistakes that (Fairfield) made really kept us up." Hickman would score off a rebound that came as a result of a block by Parker Derby before feeding Brown for his fifth field goal of the first half, allowing Ottumwa to take a 25-14 lead into half. Brown came within a rebound of a double-double, leading the Bulldogs with 21 points and nine rebounds in the team's first victory of the season. "You've just got to battle through the physicality," Brown said. "You hope you'll get a call, but no matter what you've got to finish at the rim." After ending the first half helping to secure the final four points for the Bulldogs, Hickman seemed to just be picking up steam early in the second half answering the opening 3-pointer by Myers by driving in for a basket before sinking a 3-pointer from the corner to answer a 3-pointer that was banked in by Konczal, keeping Ottumwa in front 29-19. Just a few minutes later, however, Hickman would be out of the game. The Bulldog junior took a nasty fall on a block attempt, going up and over Riley Perkins landing on his forehead suffering an injury that would keep Hickman on the bench for the rest of the contest. "When Kase went out, it felt like we lost a little bit of our intensity," Hartz said. "He's instant momentum when he comes in. It just seems to like it changes how everyone else plays. When he went down, it seemed to change our mentality for a little bit." After being held without a point in the first half, Myers would score a team-leading 17 points all in the final 16 minutes for Fairfield making seven field goals including three from beyond the 3-point arc. The Trojans continued to cut away at the lead with consecutive 16-point quarters, getting as close as 52-46 entering the final minute before Derby clinched the game stealing a pass and scoring on a lay-up to put the Bulldogs up eight while clinching a 10-point night for the Ottumwa senior. "You're just not going to win a lot of games when you only score one point in a quarter," Fairfield head boys basketball coach Nate Perkins said. "We didn't shoot the ball very well in the first half. We also had a lot of turnovers. We did a better job handling the ball in the second half. We've still got a lot of young guys out there playing. There's still a lot of room for growth. They get better every time they go out." Fairfield (1-3) returns to Southeast Conference play at Washington on Friday while Ottumwa (1-1) heads to Des Moines Roosevelt in the team's Iowa Alliance Conference south division opener.