Accra, Ghana — It has been a busy week for the President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor. On Monday he welcomed the outgoing president of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, on a 3-day state visit - one of Konares last official functions before he steps down next month.
On Tuesday, Kufuor was on hand to greet the visiting United States treasury secretary, Paul ONeill, travelling with the Irish pop star, Bono, of the group U2, who is a fervent campaigner for debt relief for the developing world.
On Thursday, the Ghanaian leader was scheduled to play host to retired South African president, Nelson Mandela although the trip was put on hold at the last minute.
President Kufuor has been a busy man ever since he took power at the start of 2001. AllAfrica.coms Ofeibea Quist-Arcton decided it was time to get his assessment of his governments first year and a half in office. In a comprehensive interview, Kufuor also shared his thoughts with allAfrica.com on developments in West Africa, progress on the continent with the New Partnership for Africas Development, Nepad, as well as relations farther afield.
AllAfrica will be publishing the interview in two parts, focussing first on current regional and African affairs, then on Ghanaian issues and on wider questions about Africa's economic future. Excerpts:
President Kufuor, you are now almost eighteen months into the job as leader of Ghana, how is the country doing under your stewardship?
I believe Ghana is doing very well, from the point Kufuor took over, considering where Ghana is coming from.
What have been the successes and what are the failures so far of the Kufuor presidency?
The economy has been functioning well, in terms of the basics. The macro-economy, more or less, has been stabilized with inflation dropping faster than even planned. We took over when inflation was at 42 percent, now its around 14 percent within one year and six months.
Interest rates have followed from around 52 percent to a currently about 26 percent and our currency, the cedi, has stabilized. Im sure you will remember that in 2000, the cedi depreciated by as much as 100 percent against the dollar. Today, we are talking in terms of 4 or 5 percent against the dollar.
We promised the people that we were ushering in the golden age of business. All these indicators go to show that we are on course and doing very well.
And the failures?
Law and order for some time seemed to go haywire, but again Im sure in your short spell here with us, you are noting that things are again stabilizing there.
Other social services are being delivered, but we find that this is perhaps what some people may look to as not a plus yet, because we find that tariffs have to go up. Already the people are over-burdened with the cost of living and that sort of thing. So, when prices go up, naturally life tends to get a bit tough. But it seems that its a hardship people have to go through before things get better.
In the short term, yes, life is hard, but we believe its a bitter pill we have to take before we turn the corner. So, on balance things are going well there.
So much for Ghana, but what about further afield?
When you look at international relations, then I would say perhaps we are in the A class. We came in with a policy of good neighbourliness and we are in the best of relations with all our neighbours - from Nigeria, through Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Cote dIvoire, Senegal - we are fine with all of them.
So, when we say Ghana should be the gateway to the sub-region, it seems we are fulfilling that.
Talking regionally, as a member of the Economic Community of West African States, Ecowas, youre sometimes accused of being a Ghanaian president who spends more time abroad than at home.
They may accuse me, again, thinking very short term. But Im looking from short to medium to long term. We want Ecowas to be a common market, because we believe thats where we get the economies of scale and also give ourselves the attraction for international investments.
Ecowas, as you know, is an area that is home to about 250 million people. Ghana is only 20 million. We have got very good human qualities that tend to overspill in what people call the brain drain. We want to be able to hold these people here and use their undoubted talents, because everywhere they go around the globe they do well. We want to create the market here, within our vicinity, and use these people. That way we can move the sub-region into globalisation.
So, I think it is a very necessary foundation for me to lay within the sub-region and elsewhere, to get Ghana well hooked in with all our neighbours - especially the Francophone countries - because as you know we are like an island surrounded by the Francophone.
Then we can break down the customs barriers and allow the movement of people and goods in the sub-region, so that the creative powers of our people would be unleashed to the benefits of themselves and of the sub-region.
Staying in West Africa, there are some success stories - for example, the recent elections in Sierra Leone, a country that looks as though it is heading towards lasting peace. But there are the perennial problems and conflicts and a virtual war across the border in Liberia, which could threaten peace in Sierra Leone. How instrumental is Ghana, now, in trying to restore peace throughout the region?
As you know, Ghana was a pioneering nation in terms of peacekeeping and helping to prevent conflict in the sub-region. This has been so for many years and Ghana is still there, sending soldiers to maintain peace in the Mano River region, including Sierra Leone, Liberia and other places. We are still offering our services and good offices for conflict resolution and peacekeeping.
Ghana is part of the mediation and security council of Ecowas and so my foreign minister is most of the time in one place or other in the sub-region, talking peace and trying to get people to understand each other. The government as a whole is still very supportive to bringing peace and resolving conflicts all over the place. I think that fact is acknowledged.
What about President Charles Taylor of Liberia? He is seen by the United Nations as a fundamental problem in the region. He has been accused of involvement in the rebellion in Sierra Leone, some called him the godfather of the rebellion. Taylor has also been mentioned in the blood diamond saga - gems being mined across both sides of the border and the profits used to buy more arms and fuel the wars. There are those who say Ghana has not spoken up strongly enough about Charles Taylor, that you have not said clearly whether or not he should be seen as a problem and what Ghana is doing about it.
The policy of my government really is not to act like the lone ranger or the knight in shining armour, always rushing forward. We cant do it, we are a small country. So we rather prefer to work within the United Nations ambit, under the auspices of Ecowas and that sort of thing. So, we go along with the policies of the collective.
The stand that the United Nations takes is what Ghana supports in the matter. And in that, Ghana has not been found wanting.
But Ecowas has taken a completely different position to the UN insofar as Liberia and President Taylor are concerned, surely?
Ecowas has not taken a completely different stance. I was in Yamoussoukro, in Cote dIvoire, last week when Ecowas decided to call for a truce - between the warring factions in Liberia, the government side and the opposition - so that the people who are out to resolve conflicts could do the work to bring peace to that country.
As I speak with you now, there are as many as 20,000 refugees from Liberia in Ghana. The government hasnt even got the resources to look after these people well. And we do not want to add oil to the fire.
Does that mean that you continue, in a way, to shield and protect President Taylor?
No, no. We are in no position to protect him. We are only trying to help bring peace to that country. And, as I say, we will work through Ecowas. And you cannot accuse Ecowas of trying to protect Mr Taylor. Ecowas is doing no such thing. What I understand Ecowas to be doing is to help bring peace to that troubled area and allow the people there to decide on their own destiny.
At the Ecowas summit in Yamoussoukro, the heads of state, said that you wanted to see a truce between the warring factions. There was an indignant response from the Liberian government. The information minister, Reginald Goodridge, complained to the BBC that he represented a government while the rebels were 'terrorists and asked why Ecowas was seeing the two sides as equal? Wasnt that reaction effectively a rebuff and a slap in the face to your initiative?
Then you are agreeing with me that Ecowas is not out to protect Mr Taylor! Ecowas was reacting to - was it an appeal? - a call from Mr Taylor, last weekend. President Obasanjo was invited out of the conference room and, as things turned out, it was Mrs (Jewel) Taylor who had come to Yamoussoukro, to appeal to him to get Ecowas to take a certain position on the situation in Liberia.
From the report of Obasanjo, the summit of presidents decided that the step to take at the time was to call for a truce, because it shouldnt be the function of Ecowas to join one side or the other in that country. Ecowas is not meant to interfere in the internal affairs of countries. Rather, Ecowas should go in to try to restore peace, so that sanity will take over within a country.
There was talk of Ecomog peacekeepers going back into Liberia. I believe that idea has also been rejected by Liberia, so what are the conclusions of your latest initiative?
Look, it was a spur of the moment situation and we dont talk about conclusions. You dont give up. Ecomog would go in to be a sort of inter-positional force between warring factions, not to side with one side and beat the other. No. That is not the idea of Ecowas. Ecowas would go in, restore peace and save lives and property. So, we would rather have the two sides dialogue. I thought that was the idea of Ecowas.
So, have the Liberians said 'yes please or 'no thank you?
I dont think Ive heard them declare one way or another on this matter yet.
Do you think that Ecowas can resolve the conflict in Liberia which could, after all, easily spill over its borders back into Sierra Leone and Guinea and destabilize the whole region as it has done in the past?
Let me say this, Ecowas is there to offer its good offices to the government and people of Liberia. Ecowas is not going to go into Liberia as a conquering force. That is not the function of Ecowas. But I have a strong feeling that Ecowas is becoming so conscious of itself, and so confident in itself, so that if some particular member wont accept the good offices that Ecowas would offer - so that peace would be restored within that members boundaries - then Ecowas would be strong enough to sort of contain the situation so that errant member does not become a disruptive force within the sub-region.
Is that an implicit threat to Liberia?
Not a threat. The way you put your question, you were making Ecowas look so fragile and weak. And I want to assure you that Ecowas is gathering strength.
Coming back to Charles Taylor, do you see him as being someone who can help to resolve the problems in Liberia or as, himself, being the fundamental problem, as the United Nations - and certainly the West - seem to think?
Please dont draw me into pronouncing on Mr Taylor. All I want to say is that Ghana, and I believe Ecowas, mean the best for the nation, Liberia. Mr Taylor happens to be the president there now and I will join with my colleagues to appeal to him to take such steps, positive steps, which his colleagues in Ecowas would agree with, so that we can all go and support him to bring peace to his nation.
Lets stay with that concept of - if not errant African leaders - leaders who many feel have let their people down. Ghana was one of less than a handful of African countries I believe, correct me if Im wrong, to criticize the elections in Zimbabwe in March and the conduct of President Robert Mugabe and his party and government. Whereas the observer mission sent by the OAU said the elections had been free, fair, credible and transparent, a position endorsed by most other African observer teams (although many other election observers said the opposite).
I dont like the comparison. I had the occasion to write to President Mugabe before the election, appealing to him as a freedom fighter - somebody who risked his life and went into exile, fighting for the liberation of his country and somebody who we believe was concerned about the rights of individuals as human beings. So I appealed to him to use his position to ensure that democracy and respect for human rights - and when I talk of human rights, Im talking of property rights and all that should go with human rights - to ensure that these rights were respected and preserved in his country.
I wrote, because his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, had visited Ghana here, appealing for sort of mediation to ensure that there would be free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. I stated all that clearly in my letter to President Mugabe, that I believed he would rise up to the expectations of the international community.
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He, in fact, responded in a very civil manner to me and invited Ghana to send election observers which Ghana did.
You sent a team of parliamentarians...
Parliamentarians from both sides of the house. The results the observers brought back could not support a view of a free and fair election. This was the cause for the reaction you referred to, given by my foreign minister. Thats that.
President Kufuor, here we are with Nepad, the New Partnership for Africas Development,at the top of the agenda. Presidents Mbeki, Wade, Obasanjo, Bouteflika, you name it, are promoting Nepad left and right. All of you are saying that Africa is moving forward, but there are still wars and conflicts and presidents who are disappointing their people. How is that, as a backdrop for going to the G8 summit in Canada next month and saying, "look, we are united, we are working together, support Nepad."?
You are an African and Im surprised you seem to oversimplify matters African. Africa is such a huge continent with such diverse groups of people and nations and ethnicities and so on and so forth. That Africa, by and large, has been able to pull itself together and declare on Nepad is, I believe, historic.
That is how I believe the international community should see Africa; that, for the first time, this huge continent that has been on the sidelines of the global advance is waking up and trying to pull itself up by its bootstraps. This is how the world should see Africa and encourage it.
One shouldnt expect that just because Africa declared today for Nepad, all the headaches and troubles would instantly vanish. No. But I would say that of 50 plus nations on the continent, if you count one or two places not yet in balance, then I would say really you should assess Africa as having done very well. It will take a bit of time. There should be a transitional period for places where disparate forces seem to be at work, to pull themselves through and to come into line with the rest of us. But most of us, I believe, are well poised to move and sit with the G8 and talk practicalities for development.
You have mentioned Zimbabwe, you have mentioned Liberia -
I could give other examples, like Madagascar. I could go on -
Madagascar is just a stalemated election. You cannot put it in the same bracket as a nation at war. You cannot. And I know people are working to try to straighten out Madagascar and I see it as a short term problem.
So you cant count too many situations in Africa that could justify the G8 not paying due attention to what is positively developing on the continent.
So, is Africa again going with its hand out to the G8?
Not a hand out! Its a partnership Africa is seeking. Africa is telling the world it is taking the initiative to develop itself, in many respects. But we see that we are in an inter-dependent world. We acknowledge globalisation. After all, the globe is being talked about as a village, and if we are all going to live in the village together, then it should be good neighbourliness. So Africa is asking for the partnership to develop, for us to be part of the common work that globalisation imports.
Part Two: Ghana's Kufuor Defends His Government's Record on Transparency, the Economy
