US embassy cable - 05ACCRA1679

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 ACCRA 001679 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
PLEASE PASS AGR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ECON, GH 
SUBJECT: THE U.S. - GHANA RELATIONSHIP: THE AMBASSADOR'S 
PARTING THOUGHTS 
 
REF: A. ACCRA 1505 
     B. ACCRA 1386 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Mary C. Yates for Reasons 1.5 d and e 
 
1. (C) Summary:  The U.S.-Ghana relationship is strong and 
broad-based.  In this message, I offer my parting thoughts on 
how the relationship has changed during my nearly three-year 
tenure as Ambassador, and identify some of the main 
challenges ahead.  I leave very optimistic about Ghana.  The 
GoG values its relationship with us, and there is enormous 
good will toward the United States among the Ghanaian people. 
 Our relationship has been strengthened during my watch by 
the five meetings between Presidents Bush and Kufuor, and by 
the visits to Ghana of President Carter, Secretary of Labor 
Chow, HHS Deputy Secretary Allen, MCC CEO Applegarth, and 
numerous senior U.S. military visits and codels.  The GoG was 
wildly enthusiastic when we were recently planning for a 
possible visit by Secretary Rice, as they saw it as 
validation of Ghana's rising status in Africa. 
 
2. (C) In the three years since my arrival, Ghana has turned 
around its economy, solidified its democracy and successfully 
concluded a peaceful election, and enhanced its reputation as 
a regional leader.  While Ghana faces daunting economic and 
political challenges in the coming years, I believe it 
currently has the best chance of its history to make the leap 
to become a middle-income economy.  As one of the only 
democratic, stable, and peaceful countries in West Africa, 
and with its growing importance as a regional leader and 
regional economic hub, Ghana stands to become even more 
important to United States foreign policy.  2007 promises to 
be a historical year for Ghana, as it celebrates fifty years 
of independence, while also hosting the African Union summit. 
 Both events will solidify Ghana as continent-wide leader. 
End Summary 
 
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Our Accomplishments 
------------------- 
 
3. (C) My dynamic Embassy team, scattered in eight compounds 
around Accra, has accomplished so much over the past three 
years.  In my view, these are the highlights: 
 
4. (C) Political:  We increased our cooperation with law 
enforcement, reflecting growing concerns about trafficking in 
narcotics, people, and arms.  This included counternarcotics 
training and equipment, community policing equipment and 
training, computers for an Internal Monitoring Unit in the 
police, and basic police training.  With a good deal of 
persistence and hard work by the Embassy team, Ghana's 
parliament passed an anti-trafficking in persons law and just 
this month signed agreements for $450,000 in new assistance 
on TIP and narcotics.  We supported the 2004 presidential and 
parliamentary election with over $1 million in assistance and 
50 teams of Embassy observers.  We strengthened parliament 
through USAID, and sent five Supreme Court justices on an 
International Visitor program.  We improved relations with 
the opposition NDC (In the past month alone, I hosted a lunch 
for former President Rawlings and received a large NDC 
entourage in my office). 
 
5. (C) Economic:  The big story in Ghana since 2003 has been 
the improvement in the economy, and the U.S. played a 
critical role in shaping the GoG's economic policies through 
our technical assistance and direct political support and 
pressure.  Our support for and urging of the GoG was integral 
to Ghana maintaining the reform program that enabled it to 
fulfill the necessary conditions to achieve Completion Point 
under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative in 
July 2004, resulting in approximately $4.2 billion debt 
relief.  Since 2003, the USG has dramatically increased 
economic engagement with Ghana, with Treasury, OPIC, 
ExImBank, the African Development Foundation, TDA, FCS, and 
USTR all expanding their programs.  Ghana is a priority for 
USAID, and Washington identified the USAID-Ghana mission's 
program for specific praise.  In addition, USAID's West 
Africa Regional Program (WARP) moved from Mali to Ghana, and 
we opened the West African Trade Hub (WATH) in 2003.  WARP 
and WATH further raised Ghana's regional profile and helped 
to strengthen ECOWAS (especially with the development of the 
ECOWAS Common External Tariff) while President Kufuor was the 
Chairman (2003-4). 
6. (C) U.S. economic linkages are expanding rapidly.  U.S. 
exports to Ghana rose from $200 million in 2003 to $300 
million in 2004, in part due to our trade promotion efforts, 
and USTR has selected Ghana as a "pacesetter" country, due to 
its relative success in diversifying its exports to the U.S. 
under the AGOA program.  We have revamped our commercial 
relationship, reviving the Amcham, facilitating numerous 
American business successes (including the GoG's recent award 
of an oil block operator-ship to U.S. firm Amerada Hess), and 
playing a critical role in the resolution of longstanding, 
high profile American investor disputes.  We also supported 
the entry into Ghana of a number of large U.S. companies, 
including Newmont Mining, and ALCOA.  The Embassy's political 
lobbying on the Ghanaian government added to direct technical 
assistance were the key factors in the signing of the 
agreement to build the Chevron-Texaco-led $600 million West 
Africa Gas Pipeline, stretching from Nigeria to Ghana.  The 
GoG is proud of this regional accomplishment and cites it 
frequently as the backbone of its energy strategy for 
economic growth.  Also with our assistance, Standard and 
Poor's and Fitch Ratings Agencies gave Ghana its first-ever 
sovereign credit ratings (of B  ).  Finally, we supported 
Ghana Expo 2004 in Atlanta, which raised Ghana's business 
profile in America, and I lead a delegation to the Corporate 
Council on Africa's summit in June 2005. 
 
7. (C) MCA:  The inclusion of Ghana among the 16 countries 
eligible for assistance under the Millennium Challenge 
Account (MCA) was an enormous achievement for the GoG, and 
vindicated President Kufuor's politically difficult decision 
to implement macroeconomic reforms to stabilize the economy. 
Despite the GoG's enthusiastic support for the program, the 
MCA has had a difficult birth in Ghana.  We worked hard to 
get the GOG organized, overcoming weak institutional capacity 
and unrealistic expectations.  In recent months, the GoG has 
come a long way quickly, largely in response to our nudging. 
To support this progress, on August 12 we signed a $3 million 
MCA 601g technical agreement with Ghana, which we hope will 
pave the way for a large, multi-year MCA program in Ghana by 
year-end. 
 
8. (C) Health and Education:  Both the GoG and USAID continue 
to prioritize these critical sectors in their poverty 
reduction strategies and resource allocation.  USAID HIV/AIDS 
funding nearly doubled in Ghana in the past three years, 
significantly helping Ghana contain the AIDS epidemic and 
expand health care services.  We partnered with the Dutch 
Embassy on promoting HIV/AIDS workplace policies at the ports 
and mines.  Internally, we implemented a very successful 
workplace HIV/AIDS policy for the Mission, and still count as 
one of our greatest accomplishments the fact that the 
majority of local staff have been counseled and tested thanks 
to our innovative, day-long health fair last spring. 
 
9. (C) Public Diplomacy:  We have had an enormously 
successful Muslim outreach program, with Iftaars, dialogues 
in their communities, and about $12 million in USG assistance 
each year focused on Muslim communities.  We opened an 
American Corner outpost in 2004 in the predominantly northern 
city of Tamale, offering a reading library on America and a 
dozen internet stations.  I saw the fruits of this effort 
during my recent visit to Kumasi, which has Ghana's most 
radical Muslim elements.  The Regional Chief Imam and a group 
of about 30 Imams and Muslim Chiefs greeted me with a 
veritable love fest for America, eagerly taking our 
friendship pins with the American flag.  My receptions from 
the Chief Imam of Tamale and the National Chief Imam in Accra 
over the past month were equally warm.  Other major successes 
in PD have been reinforcing tertiary educational institutions 
(forging new partnerships with many universities and 
polytechnics, and expanding our Fulbright program).  The 
launching of Voice of America FM broadcasting in Accra 24/7 
in 2005 gives Ghanaians more American news and views. 
 
10. (C) Management:  After overcoming many property 
acquisition difficulties, we broke ground on our New Embassy 
Compound and are making great progress.  General Williams 
promises a spring 2007 completion, which will add to Ghana's 
historic celebration.  We put in place an effective 
State/USAID pilot program to harmonize administrative 
services.  Embassy Accra volunteered to pilot and is on the 
verge of starting a DOS diplomatic post office as I depart 
which should be a real morale booster.  We significantly 
improved our consular services, with on-line visa 
applications, electronic scheduling and increased staffing. 
As a result, the wait for non-immigrant visas has reduced 
from an average of six to three months.  But we still need to 
reduce this further. 
 
11. (C) Security:  Our military-military cooperation has been 
transformed in the past few years, with dozens of Flag 
Officers' visits, three major ship visits, and assistance to 
the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Center, including 
at last a fulltime American military officer on staff.  We 
supported Ghana's military and peacekeeping leadership in 
ECOWAS, especially in their contributions to advancing the 
African Union's plan to stand-up force brigades.  We 
initiated a State Partnership Program with the North Dakota 
National Guard, only the second in Sub-Saharan Africa.  U.S. 
military built the Exercise Reception Facility, and we signed 
an African Fuel Initiative Hub agreement to facilitate future 
U.S. military engagements in West Africa.  We also developed 
a more robust intelligence sharing relationship.  Post's 
active Office of Defense Cooperation supports Ghana's 
regional leadership, through ACOTA assistance for 
peacekeeping as well as significant humanitarian assistance 
programs.  Ghana has been very cooperative in the war against 
terrorism, signing all 12 UN terrorism conventions. 
 
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The Challenges Ahead 
-------------------- 
 
12. (C) As we continue to build on our strong foundations 
with Ghana, we should be mindful of some potential problems 
as well.  The main ones I see are: 
 
13. (C) Governance:  Corruption and cronyism are growing 
concerns, as revealed by two recent public opinion surveys 
(reftels), and this is an area the GoG must focus on if it is 
to continue its impressive economic and political reform 
movement.  Parliament and anti-corruption institutions are 
ineffective.  Politics is highly polarized, with little 
cooperation between the main NPP and NDC parties, as was 
recently witnessed in their debate over whether to allow 
expatriate Ghanaians to vote.  Traditional chieftaincy 
disputes (mostly over land) and some level of isolated ethnic 
tension cause social strains.  All of these factors have the 
potential to corrode Ghana's democracy.  We will also have to 
work to keep the GoG from being too distracted by the 
politics of election 2008.  Some observers believe 
pre-election politicking is already beginning to slow down 
government decision-making. 
 
14. (C) Reducing Poverty:  The GoG's careful management of 
the economy turned a distressed economy in 2002 into an 
economy marked by 5.8% growth, low inflation, and a stable 
exchange rate in 2004.  However, the economy is heavily 
dependent on gold and cocoa exports and is, therefore, 
vulnerable to external shocks.  With weaker cocoa prices and 
rising oil prices, Ghana's declining terms of trade could 
pose some balance of payments challenges down the road. 
Investment levels are still low, and a top priority is for 
the GoG to improve the investment climate.  Poverty remains 
high in much of Ghana, and average Ghanaians do not yet see 
the benefits of the government's macroeconomic reforms. 
 
15. (C) Regional Conflict:  There is always the potential for 
spillover from Ghana's turbulent neighborhood, especially 
with a view to the upcoming elections in Cote d'Ivoire and 
Liberia.  There is already the beginning of some refugee 
fatigue in the GoG as seen with the recent influx of 
Sudanese.  The GoG also worries about illegal arms transfers, 
rising narcotics trafficking, armed crime.  We will have to 
monitor the impact of regional events on Ghana and work to 
reinforce Ghana's leadership on many issues in the region. 
 
-------------------------- 
Moving Beyond the Legacies 
-------------------------- 
 
16. (C) Our relationship with Ghana will have to work through 
some legacy issues over the longer term. 
 
17. (C) The Nkrumah Legacy:  Nkrumahist 
socialism/Panafricanism/non-alignment helped forge the sense 
of nationhood and unity that Ghana enjoys today.  It helps 
explain why Ghana is not wracked by the kinds of ethnic 
strife seen elsewhere in the region.  Nkrumahist socialist 
economics is still seen in a pervasive policy of state 
intervention in the economy and business transactions, and an 
assumption by the public that the government is responsible 
for the economy.  However, it also impacts Ghana's foreign 
policy in a way that is not always helpful.  Ghana stresses 
nonalignment, African unity.  For example, we see this in 
Ghana's UN voting record.  In 2004, the GoG's coincidence 
with us on overall votes in the UN was only 14.5% (22.2% on 
important votes), slightly below average for Africa. 
 
18. (C) The Dependency Legacy:  Ghana's dependence on foreign 
assistance over a long period of time has built a paradigm of 
dependence that impacts our relationship.  Add to this the 
large Ghanaian diaspora population in the U.S. and the result 
is a knee-jerk "what can you give me" mentality.  There is a 
need to build more entrepreneurship, more bureaucratic 
capacity, more of a sense of responsibility for tough 
economic decisions. 
 
19. (C) The Traditional Legacy:  Ghana's traditional chiefs 
and rulers have a strong hold.  They have a positive impact 
on many aspects of Ghanaian culture.  However, their control 
of land generates conflict at times, and is the single 
biggest problem for foreign investors looking at Ghana.  They 
impact political decision-making -- the Ashanti king, for 
example, has tremendous influence over political 
appointments.  They reinforce traditional beliefs, which 
negatively impact human rights, such as early marriages, 
domestic trafficking of persons, and punishing suspected 
witches.  Traditional power structures impact Ghana in ways 
which affect (largely negatively) our bilateral relationship. 
 
 
20. (C) The Rawlings Legacy:  Former President Rawlings still 
has a big impact on Ghana.  He is still a major force in the 
opposition NDC, although he splits the party among Rawlings 
supporters and detractors.  While his political weight alone 
is capable of drawing significant votes for the NDC, there 
are those that say his presence in politics hampers the NDC's 
ability to win an election.  Many Ghanaians oppose the NDC 
because they do not want a return to days of human rights 
abuses and restraints on civil liberties.  Rawlings' personal 
feud with President Kufuor exacerbates tensions between the 
parties.  There is an element of bile in Ghanaian party 
politics that is fueled by Rawlings' continued activism in 
politics (although he is not entirely to blame for it).  It 
undermines the health of the country's democracy. 
 
21. (C) The Constitutional Legacy:  At some point Ghana will 
have to rethink flaws in its 1992 constitution.  Ghana's 
fourth constitution established a parliamentary/presidential 
hybrid, which concentrated excessive power in the executive. 
Many Ghanaian political analysts see these flaws.  The result 
is that Parliament cannot initiate laws, many local 
government officials are not elected, one half of 
Parliamentarians are government ministers, and there is no 
limit on the numbers of Supreme Court justices.  There is 
broad understanding of the need to reform the constitution, 
although it will be difficult to find the political consensus 
to do so.  The constitutional deficiencies limit our ability 
to strengthen Ghana's democracy, including its ability to 
instigate legislation covering a range of issues relevant to 
our relationship (such as IPR, money laundering, 
Whistleblower, and other laws). 
 
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Comments 
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22. (C) Moving beyond these legacy issues will be a process 
of political development that will take time.  The outlook is 
bright.  Ghana has moved beyond a military legacy, an 
anti-American legacy, and a history of traditional ethnic 
tensions.  It has overcome decades of economic mismanagement 
and begun to build a vibrant civil society.  It has 
established a long track history of positive international 
engagement, from peacekeeping to regional peace efforts.  We 
have built a solid foundation for our bilateral relationship, 
and over the past few years have added important new 
dimensions, such as our mil-mil ties, counterterrorism 
cooperation and Muslim outreach efforts.  President Kufuor 
feels he has developed a personal relationship with President 
Bush.  The MCA, G-8 debt relief, our law enforcement 
cooperation, and other components of our engagement with 
Ghana have further boosted our standing here.  We will reap 
benefits from our continued efforts to reduce the wait for 
non-immigrant visa appointments and increase the transparency 
to the public of our visa process. 
 
23. (C) I leave Ghana proud of all these accomplishments and 
optimistic that, despite its many challenges and legacy 
issues, Ghana is on the right track.  On August 19 President 
Kufuor conferred on me Ghana's highest honor, The Grand 
Medal, and asked the Foreign Minister to read a citation 
re-capping many of my Mission's accomplishments.  As we look 
forward toward 2007, the 50th anniversary of Independence, 50 
years of our bilateral relationship, the opening of the new 
U.S. Embassy compound, and Kufuor's expected ascendance to 
the Chairmanship of the African Union, Ghana will only grow 
in importance within Africa and to the United States.  End 
Comment. 
 
 
YATES