Dr. Gideon Boako, the spokesperson for Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has strongly denied claims that the former Trade Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, was responsible for the Paperless Port policy.
According to Dr. Boako, it is Dr. Bawumia who deserves credit for the Paperless Port initiative, and not any other individual.
His comment is in response to Nana Ohene Ntow, a former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who argued during an interview on Face to Face on Citi TV on June 13 that Alan Kyerematen should be credited for the initiative.
But in a subsequent interview on Face to Face on June 20, Dr. Boako described Ohene Ntow’s comments as lies and emphasized his lack of knowledge about government affairs.
“He [Ohene Ntow] has no idea, ignore all those comments, no need to respond, all of them are lies. Don’t listen to some of these things. Nana Ohene Ntow is never close to the government, he doesn’t even know what happens in government.
“I don’t know why they are trying to take credit for something that they didn’t actually participate in. In all the meetings we had with the people of the port and freight forwarders, he [Alan Kyerematen] was not part of. In terms of digitalization, I honestly didn’t see the interplay of Alan Kyerematen,” Dr Bawumia’s Spokesperson said.
Furthermore, Dr. Boako highlighted that during conferences held by Vice President, representatives from various countries were present to discuss the Paperless Port initiative. He clarified that Alan Kyerematen was not part of those conferences.
“Let’s ask ordinary Ghanaians who they associate the Paperless Port with. I don’t need to get into it because of the internal elections. I was with the Vice President when he paid an unannounced visit to the port, it was when we went there that he made that policy initiative.
“He [Dr. Bawumia] said he will visit them, identify himself with the issues and then bring the policy out, he then brought the Paperless Port. We held a two-day conference on Paperless Port in Ghana, inviting people from Belgium, Dubai ports, and all the best ports including Singapore.
“I’m sorry to say the former Trade Minister [Alan Kyerematen] was not part of this conference. The Vice President brought all these ideas.”
