8 July 2009
editorial
President Obama's visit to Ghana will be a "historic occasion," it recognizes the progress Ghana has made - particularly in the area of democratization - which serves as an example to the rest of Africa. Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
President Barack Obama will be in Ghana from July 10 to 11, 2009. In actual fact, this would not be the first time that an American President had visited Ghana. Richard Nixon (then Vice President) graced Ghana's independence celebration in 1957; former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush also visited Ghana in 1999 and 2008 respectively.
What however makes this visit an historic one is the fact that President Obama is the first U.S. President of African-American heritage, who is coming to sub-sahara Africa, and his first stop has fallen on the small West African country of only 23 million people, called Ghana.
This nation has been internationally commended for our ground-breaking fifth successful democratic transition of power since 1992, and the second time that an opposition party defeated the incumbent party, which clearly suggests that democracy has taken deep and strong root in Ghana
During the visit, President Obama will address various bilateral and regional issues with his Ghanaian counterpart, President John Evans Atta Mills. The American President is also expected to use the Ghanaian platform to make a major policy statement about Africa, to the rest of the continent.
As a nation, the international spotlight is going to be on us for the two days that President Obama's visit will last. There is the need for the country to cash in on this august occasion. Ghana is setting a path of progress both on the economic and the political front on the African continent, and has been a strong contributor to regional stability to African peacekeeping missions in West Africa and the world over. These are the brand qualities that Ghana had to take advantage of in Obama's visit to sell to the world.
The Information Minister, Mrs. Zita Okaikoi is quoted to have said that the visit would be a boon to Ghana. She said "Once Obama comes here, we should expect good things. Investors would want to come in to see what Ghana has to offer," but her Ministry in collaboration with other Ministries should actualize the rhetoric.
The Ministry of Tourism should also cash in on the fact that Barack Obama is the first U.S President of African-American heritage visiting the slave castles in Cape Coast. Ghana is essential to the ancestral origins of hundreds of thousands of African-Americans, who trace their lineage and heritage directly to Ghana.
Whiles looking at the diplomatic niceties and benefits that the Obama trip brings to Ghana, we should also not forget the fact of America's core strategic interests, with Oil being one of them.
The coincidence of Ghana's recent oil discovery in billions of barrels of reserves, and the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) estimating that by 2015, 25 percent of American oil imports will be derived from West Africa, can not be ignored. With the massive unpredictability in Nigeria's Niger Delta, Ghana's stable environment offers a valuable addition.
For whatever motive that has made America to descend on Ghana to use it as a launch-pad to reach to the rest of the continent, we should accord President Obama the warmest of the famed Ghanaian hospitality. For once, we should all put aside the things that divide us and portray ourselves to the world that Ghana has indeed improved on her democratic maturity.
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