Obama puts democracy first inAfrican policy

Published on Sunday 12 July 2009 21:50

PRESIDENT Barack Obama did an unexpected thing this weekend. The United States' first black president chose to endorse Africa's most democratic state, Ghana instead of its most populous, Nigeria, its most powerful, South Africa or its most influential, Kenya.

Obama sent a clear message – the spread of democracy will henceforth dictate US policy in Africa, not the renewal of ancestral ties.

If Obama was making a sentimental journey to Africa, he'd have gone to the birthplace of his father, a Kenyan goat-herder. If he was concerned about maintaining George Bush's oil strategy, he'd have visited Nigeria. And if political geo-positioning mattered a visit to South Africa would have been essential.

Instead Obama visited Ghana for three powerful reasons – the past, present and the future. Ghana became Africa's first independent state on 6 March, 1957 – the birthplace of modern Africa. Founding president Kwame Nkrumah was a famous pan-Africanist, but ultimately a domestic disappointment. Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings seized power in the 1980s and it looked like Ghana was embarking on dictatorship.

Rawlings, the son of a Scottish pharmacist, surprised many when he retired in 2000 and despite vote-rigging, his chosen successor was beaten by Oxford-educated lawyer and entrepreneur, John Kufuor. That election took place against the dramatic backdrop of the US election between George Bush and Al Gore.

While the hanging chads of Florida brought discredit to the American electoral process, Ghana coped with its close-run contest by holding a re-ballot, triggered because no candidate had won 50 per cent of the vote. And so while the US was left reeling after the election of a president with the lowest share of the popular vote for 150 years, Ghana celebrated as the leader of the New Patriotic Party was sworn into office. After his two terms, Mr Kufour has now retired, and his old rival John Atta Mills became president last year in another peaceful election with a 70 per cent turn-out.

If Ghana's current democratic credentials are impressive, its past is formidable too. With coastal fortresses from which millions were sent into slavery, Ghana is effectively the birthplace of modern multi-racial America too. Michelle Obama is the descendant of Africans shipped to America as slaves. So the symbolism of the Obamas' visit to Cape Coast Castle could not have been clearer. While drummers kept up a steady beat outside, the family toured a dungeon where slaves were kept before being shipped out through a "Door of No Return". The Obamas walked through the door, paused on the other side, then walked back in.

But though its past and present are hugely symbolic, Ghana's future may be the main reason Mr Obama chose to visit.

An oilfield, thought to contain up to three billion barrels of light oil was discovered in 2007 offshore. Production has already begun, and while Ghana's share of New Gulf reserves is relatively small, its future as the region's oil capital will grow thanks to Nigeria's enduring reputation for violence, instability and corruption and Ghana's honest broker status.

"Why would Obama want to come to Nigeria? To lend credence to the putrefying edifice that this nation has largely become?" a columnist asked. The Nobel prize-winning Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, said he would "stone" Mr Obama if he legitimised Nigeria by visiting.

Tyre manufacturers Dunlop and Michelin have moved from Nigeria to Ghana and wealthy Nigerian families are paying $6,000 to put their children through university in Accra. Obama has already announced that Ghana will be the physical location for the US African Command headquarters.

That's a move governed by enlightened self-interest.

The American National Intelligence Council estimates that by 2015, 25 per cent of American oil imports will come from West Africa, compared to 16 per cent today – already West Africa supplies more oil to America than Saudi Arabia, and the offshore location of the new finds will further reduce transportation costs and the risk of terrorist attacks.

China has already worked that out – its investment is largely responsible for Africa's highest ever economic growth rate of 5.8 per cent in 2007. That year it also cancelled $10 billion of African debt.

So the US is suddenly very interested in Ghana – which means Ghana may be able to play some limited softball in return.

Few Africans would quarrel with Obama's call for the continent to put its own war-torn, corrupt and under-achieving house in order. But some transparency from the world's rich nations wouldn't go amiss either.

The G8 has failed to honour the doubling of aid budgets promised at Gleneagles – and the latest $20bn of food aid includes "old" money over a three-year period. That means the United States will supply just $500 million of new money per year to the whole developing world – about the same amount Obama's home town of Chicago has pledged this year to back its 2016 Olympic Games bid.

Furthermore, according to a recent Oxfam report, the US ties more of its aid than any other donor nation, so most of the value of food aid will flow directly back to America instead of promoting more growth in Africa.

"Africa doesn't need strongmen – it needs strong institutions."

The world agrees – and Obama can begin institutional change tomorrow by ending American tied aid, adopting an aid target of 0.7 per cent of GDP, protecting primary producers against fluctuations in world prices, freezing the overseas assets of corrupt leaders and switching US support away from big prestige projects towards rural, grassroots developments.

As leaders the world over have found, bold words are easier than bold actions. Let's hope Strongman Obama is different.