Obama in Ghana

Sena Atoklo is a broadcast journalist and resident of Ghana who has worked with the BBC and ITV in the UK, and ETV South Africa. Over the next week, he’ll be sending in posts to the ONE Blog on Obama’s visit to Ghana and how Ghanaians are reacting to it.

Ghanaians are excited and waiting with baited breath for the arrival of U.S President Barack Obama at exactly 20:30GMT when Air force One touches down at the Kotoka International Airport today. The fever did not really grip Ghanaians until this week. A number of them were expectant but when the months and weeks became days, the reality hit them that the U.S President was indeed visiting.

The Ghanaian media is making sure that it is not left out of the whole frenzy of welcoming President Obama. Screaming headlines of President Obama’s visit greets everyone in the mornings. This week has seen a lot of coverage on the Obama visit. The debate in the media is whether it was the current NDC government that lobbied for his visit to the country or if the trip had been planned a while ago and that no matter the party in government he would be visiting Ghana anyway. Remember, Ghana had a closely fought general election last year, and it is not strange to see Ghanaians still divided along political lines. The media plays a part in influencing the thoughts and feelings of the ordinary Ghanaians. And since the big headlines about his visit has given Ghanaians something to talk about, the media at this point are still scrambling for accreditation. Trust me that they will have more than enough news stories to churn out for at least the next four weeks.

-Sena Atoklo

ONE co-founder Bono wrote a great a column for the New York Times today about President Obama’s historic visit to Ghana this weekend. Bono writes about the relationship between the U.S. and Africa and about how countries like Ghana, with its peaceful transition of power and growing business sector, are challenging old stereotypes about Africa.

The Times also links to our brand new “Yes, Africa Can” video about Ghana. The video, which we shot in Ghana just a few weeks ago, includes Ghanaians talking about their views of Ghana today and their excitement about President Obama’s trip.

In his column Bono writes:

No one’s leaked me a copy of the president’s speech in Ghana, but it’s pretty clear he’s going to focus not on the problems that afflict the continent but on the opportunities of an Africa on the rise. If that’s what he does, the biggest cheers will come from members of the growing African middle class, who are fed up with being patronized and hearing the song of their majestic continent in a minor key.

I’ve played that tune. I’ve talked of tragedy, of emergency. And it is an emergency when almost 2,000 children in Africa a day die of a mosquito bite; this kind of hemorrhaging of human capital is not something we can accept as normal.

But as the example of Ghana makes clear, that’s only one chord. Amid poverty and disease are opportunities for investment and growth — investment and growth that won’t eliminate overnight the need for assistance, much as we and Africans yearn for it to end, but that in time can build roads, schools and power grids and propel commerce to the point where aid is replaced by trade pacts, business deals and home-grown income.

Read Bono’s full Op-Ed on the New York Times website.

-Kathy McKiernan

Sena Atoklo is a broadcast journalist and resident of Ghana who has worked with the BBC and ITV in the UK, and ETV South Africa. Over the next week, he’ll be sending in posts to the ONE Blog on Obama’s visit to Ghana and how Ghanaians are reacting to it.

Trust Ghanaians to find business opportunities in even the mundane things of life. That is exactly what the U.S President Barack Obama’s visit to the country (this Friday and Saturday) offers some Ghanaians.

Those who want to take advantage of the visit to make some cash are already in business. Miniature flags of Ghana and the United States of America are being produced, along with ceremonial cloth with the photographs of the two Presidents. People in the Arts and Entertainment sector are not being left out of this. Some musicians have composed songs welcoming the first Black President of the United States to our homeland Ghana. Francis Mensah sells Barack Obama souvenirs along Osu Oxford Street here in the city of Accra. I had a brief conversation with him:

Me: How long have you been in the business of selling paraphernalia and other souvenirs.

FRANCIS: I started selling on this street for the past ten years. I usually sell replica jerseys of Ghanaian football stars in Europe such as Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah

Me: So why have you emptied your stand of these replica Jerseys and are instead selling Obama souvenirs.

FRANCIS: This is a special occasion for Ghanaians and they will want to be part of it and they can feel a part of it by buying such items as the cloth, T-shirts and other souvenirs.

Me: Are people buying these items?

FRANCIS: You won’t believe it. The shelves were well stocked but within a week stock has depleted. A number of them are purchasing the T-Shirts.

Me: Do you have a manufacturer who supplies you with these items?

FRANCIS: Yes. There is a vendor from the Akosombo Textiles who supplies me with the cloth, whilst another person supplies me with the T-shirt.

Me: What can you tell us about sales then?

FRANCIS: As I said earlier, sales are good contrary to what I was dreading that people will not buy but they are buying

Sena Atoklo is a broadcast journalist and resident of Ghana who has worked with the BBC and ITV in the UK, and ETV South Africa. Over the next week, he’ll be sending in posts to the ONE Blog on Obama’s visit to Ghana and how Ghanaians are reacting to it.

Anyone arriving in my country, Ghana for the first time, will know right away that Ghanaians are expecting an august visitor in the month of July. The beautification that’s currently taking place in the capital Accra and the ancient capital Cape-Coast tell it all. In Accra, trees along what we call ceremonial roads have been given a new lease of life. They have either been painted or white washed with emulsion paint, or have been draped with paraphernalia of U.S President Barack Obama and that of the Ghanaian President, John Evans Atta-Mills.

The drains and other gutters that usually harbor stagnant water and mosquitoes are being worked on tirelessly to ensure that they are clear and free flowing. This is all because Ghana at this time of the year is experiencing its rainy season so one can imagine the amount of work being done by Zoom Lion personnel. Zoom Lion is a private waste management company tasked with ensuring that the city of Accra is clean all the time. You remember your first date and how badly you wanted to look your best and put up your best behavior in a bid not to lose him or her? Well that is exactly what I am talking about. This is the state of my country Ghana today.

My country is preparing to receive the first black president of the United States of America Barack Obama on Friday. Accra is seeing a facelift temporarily with daily cleanup exercises, patching up of pot holes on our roads in anticipation of Barack Obama. But how Ghanaians wish for more high-profile visitors so that those responsible in Ghana will continue to do that for which they are paid.

-Sena Atoklo

This Friday, President Obama is heading to Ghana. It’s his first trip to Africa as President and we’ve just posted a short film, “Yes, Africa Can” that captures the excitement on the ground.

We spent several days interviewing Ghanaians of all ages and backgrounds about their country’s progress and its prospects for the future. What you’ll see in this film is an illustration of Ghana’s success and the palpable pride Ghanaians feel about their democracy, peace and unity as a country. I think it’s summed up best at the end:

“I believe that yes, Africa can. I believe that yes, I can. I believe that with dedication, perseverance, sense of purpose, we can achieve anything in the world.”

President Obama’s trip will shine an international spotlight on Ghana’s success story, and others like it, where strong African leadership, entrepreneurship and smart donor policies and investments are laying the groundwork for stability, prosperity and a brighter future.

Enjoy the film and forward it to a friend.

-Ben Hubbard

New Hampshire native, Jim Bednar, the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s resident Ghana director, has a great op-ed in today’s New Hampshire Union Leader – the only state wide newspaper in New Hampshire.

In addition to the progress that is being made in Ghana, Jim notes former NH Senator Sununu’s recent trip to Ghana with ONE. Mr. Bednar speaks of his interest in international development as the same “pragmatism [that] defines why Americans should remain engaged in making the world better.” As you know, President Obama will be visiting Ghana later this week. Check back on the ONE Blog for further coverage of the trip.

Excerpts below, full op-ed here

The interconnected global community means that the prosperity of others is closely tied to our own. The severe economic crisis and the recent threat of a health pandemic are stark reminders that borders cannot insulate us. That’s why smart U.S. engagement in the fight against global poverty and disease matters as much to the poor in Ghana as it does to Americans in New Hampshire and the other 49 states.

Ghanaians strive for a better tomorrow. Here in West Africa, their commitment to stability and growth means greater development and trade. The country’s poverty rate dropped from 52 percent in 1992 to 28.5 percent in 2006. Yet there’s still more to do. Ghana’s poor live a reality of poverty few Americans can fully fathom. In a country where agriculture is the economy’s backbone, employing 60 to 70 percent of workers, a typical farmer knows the burden of extreme poverty.

…..

I think many Granite Staters would agree with MCC’s approach: We expect partner countries to lead their development through homegrown ideas and local implementation. This creates sustainable solutions of their own making. We demand practical results that deliver change in the lives of the poor. Such transparency and results-driven accountability ensure the responsible stewardship of U.S. tax dollars.

I can see how the Ghana-MCC partnership is beginning to make a difference for the poor. Road repairs will help farmers reach markets. The first of 60,000 farmers to be trained through MCC programs have learned to think more as business men and women, and banks are giving them credit. Seventy-five schools have been renovated, with hundreds more to be built.

-Matthew Bartlett

In anticipation of his upcoming visit to Ghana, allAfrica.com interviewed President Obama to discuss his trip and why he chose Ghana. President Obama had praise for Ghana’s new president John Atta Mills as someone who’s demonstrated “the kinds of democratic commitments that ensure stability in a country. And we want to highlight that.”

You can read allAfrica.com’s account of the interview here, video in 2 parts below:

-Chris Scott