Obama in Ghana
Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be posting the video of President Obama’s speech before Ghana’s parliament. Along with the video, our policy team will be hosting a live online chat to answer your questions and offer analysis of what this speech means for our work fighting poverty and disease.
Be sure to RSVP for the live chat and we’ll shoot you an email letting you know when the video’s posted!
-Chris Scott
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.
It’s been a rainy Friday. In fact it’s been raining since the early hours of the day. Today Ghana is expecting the arrival of President Obama. Security has been extra tight in order to prevent any mishap to what looks like the most powerful man on earth. Ghana has deployed ten thousand security men across the city– something you would not get on a normal day. The number is complemented by the presence of American marines and other security personnel.
Some roads are expected to be blocked from 18 hours GMT causing a lot of inconvenience to motorists especially when there is much road construction going on in the capital. Some businesses did not open today, while others closed as early as 10am in a bid to avoid the traffic that will engulf the city with the arrival of the First Family of the United States.
-Sena Atoklo
President Obama took an opportunity while at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy to speak about food security in Africa. He also spoke about the need for openness, stating that “countries in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the world that are suffering from extreme poverty have an obligation to use the assistance that’s available in a way that’s transparent, accountable, and that builds on the rule of law and other institutional reforms that will allow long-term improvement.”
Check out the clip (partial transcript below):
There is no reason why Africa cannot be self-sufficient when it comes to food. … What’s lacking is the right seeds, the right irrigation, but also the kinds of institutional mechanisms [that work for ordinary people].
…
My father traveled to the United States a mere 50 years ago. And yet now I have family members who live in villages — they themselves are not going hungry, but live in villages where hunger is real. And so this is something that I understand in very personal terms. [...] I want to be very careful: Africa is a continent not a country, so you can’t extrapolate from the experience of one country. [...] Part of the reason we’re traveling to Ghana is because you’ve got, there, a functioning democracy, a president who’s serious about reducing corruption, and you’ve seen significant economic growth.
-Chris Scott
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
