BY LEONARD MADU
 Published
July 11th, 2009
On July 10-11, President Obama will visit the west
African state of Ghana. This will be president
Obama's first visit to Africa since assuming office.
On assuming office, Obama's administration
articulated a three point African policy. One is to
accelerate Africa's integration into the global
economy. Second is to enhance the peace and
security of African states. Third is to strengthen
the relationships with those govts, institutions, and
civil society organizations committed to deepening
democracy, accountability and reducing poverty in
Africa.
My diplomatic sources tell me that several African
countries lobbied the White House for the
presidential visit. However, in addition to other
reasons, Ghana was chosen for meeting the the
third and most important prong of the
administration's Africa policy-commitment to
democracy and accountability. Among west African
states, Ghana is the only one to hold a transparent
election in which the opposition party defeated the
ruling party and assumed power. Rarely does an
opposition party defeat a ruling party in Africa.
This in itself is an accomplishment. Moreover,
Ghana's economy is on the upswing and it's leaders
have not looted the treasury as those in Nigeria
have done. It is also important to note that Ghana
was the first state in sub-Saharan Africa to
achieve its independence in 1957 under that great
visionary, Kwame Nkrumah. What is significant
about Ghana's turn around is that prior to 1979, it
was an economic and political basket case almost
run into the ground by years of misrule, by
incompetent and ruthlessly corrupt military
leaders. However the assumption of power by
Jerry Rawlings in 1979 and again in 1981 rescued
Ghana from an impending disaster. Rawlings not
only gave the Ghanaian economy a strong dose of
IMF prescribed economic medicine, but also dealt
very ferociously with corrupt officials. Rawlings
crusade against corruption worked because, he was
disinterested in looting the treasury like the
leaders of the much larger and richer Nigeria.
When his party was defeated by the opposition
party led by John Kuffuor, he handed over power
peacefully, gracefully, and bowed out. That would
never have happened in Nigeria where the ruling
party does everything to suffocate any opposition.
Unlike in most African states, Kuffuor did not
discard Rawlings successes, but built upon them.
Ghana is where it is today, because of the actions
of two leaders(Rawlings and Kuffuor) who were not
interested in stealing the people blind. Quite the
opposite in Nigeria where from 1999-2007, the
President, the Vice president and their cronies
were fighting over who stole the most amount of
money while millions of Nigerians do not have
electricity, water and adequate health care. While
in power, the President and Vice President of
Nigeria were competing to see who builds the
biggest private university with stolen state funds,
while the country's educational institutions were in
shambles. The first and only free election ever
held in Nigeria was in 1993 and it was canceled by
the military, because they could not rig it and the
wrong man won. The current President and 90% of
the governors were imposed on the the people
after a charade called elections in 2007, and the
looting of the treasury goes on unabated. The
government in Nigeria cannot tell how many people
live in the country, because every census ever
conducted since 1963 has been manipulated to
benefit a section of the country. As we speak, a
fledgling insurgency sparked by injustice over the
distribution of the oil wealth is going on in Nigeria.
The current ruling party, the Poverty Development
Party of Nigeria (PDP) is the most corrupt political
party on the continent.
The comparison of Ghana and Nigeria is very
relevant here, because Nigerian officials have been
very upset ans uncomfortable that President
Obama chose to go to Ghana first instead of
Nigeria. They view it as an insult to the country. A
diplomatic source who spoke to me on condition of
anonymity, states that Nigerian officials will even
be satisfied if President Obama's plane makes a
brief stop over at the Abuja airport(the capital) on
its way to or from Ghana.
When African countries are been encouraged to
hold transparent elections and genuinely clamp
down on corruption, it would be sending the wrong
message for Obama to travel to Nigeria first. It
won't be wise to reward a kleptocracy with a
presidential visit, just because it calls itself the
giant of Africa where nothing works. Nigeria
should emulate Ghana by putting its house in order
first.
Today, Ghana is again the beacon of West Africa
and Nkrumah's dream of Ghana's pre-eminent role
in the politics of Black Africa is been realized.
The White House made the right decision for the
President to visit Ghana first. The next stop should
be Botswana, Africa's most enduring democracy.
*DR. LEONARD MADU IS A DIPLOMATIC
TROUBLESHOOTER AND PRESIDENT OF THE
AFRICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
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