President Obama’s Ghana visit was a forced touch- and- go landing, trapped between a rock and a hard place: the rock of having to visit Africa as the first African American president, and the hard place of not having any new U.S. policy for the continent. He did continue the legacy of George W. Bush, who was wildly popular in Africa for quadrupling U.S. foreign assistance. In a 21-hour visit, Obama told the Ghana parliament he will continue U.S. assistance to eradicate HIV/AIDS and other diseases by “building on the strong efforts of President Bush.” Our first true “internet president”, Obama knew he was vilified in the African blogosphere for not having articulated an Africa policy – while he had made clear his views on Iraq, Afghanistan and the global economic meltdown. The Ghana speech fell short of new policy or substantive policy change. Many African leaders pine for an African Marshal Plan. Some African economists argue for a foreign direct investment strategy proposed by Zambian-born economist Dr. Dambiasa Moyo in her book “Dead Aid,” to end the culture of aid-dependency. Most African nations are wary of AFRICOM, the first U.S. military command for Africa. AFRICOM, created by President Bush, led some Africans to worry that America wants to “militarize” Africa. Obama said AFRICOM, headquartered in Germany, aims only to train African militaries to meet their own peacekeeping and counter-terrorism needs and to deal with natural and man-made disasters. That’s precisely what President Bush tasked to AFRICOM. Why visit Ghana? If Obama had asked me to suggest a one-day visit to Africa, that would have been my advice. It’s a democratic country by African standards. Even its last military putshist, Flight Lt. Jerry John Rawlings was present at Obama’s speech. Rawlings engineered three coups, two of them successful, and twice turned power over to an elected civilian president. It has been suggested that Bush’s Africa policy was based upon security and oil interests, while Obama policy is based upon “good governance”. Bush established the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to oversee U.S. aid to poor countries that show “good governance:”Civilian control of the military, and transparent banking and judicial systems to to keep U.S. aid dollars from the back pockets of dictators. Ghana qualified for MCC aid – more than $500 million – in 2006. Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $31 billion, about the same as the U.S. state of Wyoming. Ghana must support a population of 24 million, while Wyoming has fewer than a million residents. As to oil policy: Ghana’s new off-shore oil discoveries will likely make the former “Gold Coast” the new “Black Gold Coast. In Ghana, Obama, the silver-tongued orator, melted hearts, evoking memories of a Kenyan father that by all published accounts he hardly knew, and the crowd went wild. Former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Bush also made impassioned speeches on visits to Ghana. Obama has the cache of being African-American, but once the euphoria of his visit has worn off, Ghanaians will be asking the same question that followed previous U.S. presidential visits: What’s in it for the U.S? Undoubtedly, U.S. taxpayers will be asking the same.
Tony Das is president/coo of Global Markets Consulting Group (www.gmcg.U.S.). He is a retired U.S. government Foreign Service and Senior Executive Service officer.
