Why Obama’s Ghana Speech Comes at a Time of New Hope for Africa
DEVELOPMENTS
President Obama went to Ghana this past July on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president. Obama chose to visit Ghana partly because it is a stable democratic country, with a growing economy relatively free of political corruption. The choice conveyed his message that the continent had the potential to overcome the corruption and mismanagement that holds back much of the region and that frustrates major aid donors and potential foreign investors. Comments concerning poor governance from previous U.S. presidents have sometimes been seen as paternalistic. But by complimenting Ghana’s progress, and through the perceived credibility that comes with having a cultural connection to the continent, by virtue of his Kenyan father, Obama conveyed a message that has been met with a rapturous response on the ground in Africa.
Many in the international community have wrongly mislabeled Africa as a failed continent. Certainly, there are several parts of the continent that are well known for their dependence on foreign aid agencies and international donor conferences. In the past, many Africans felt the U.S. lacked the moral authority to criticize African governance because of a long history of inconsistent support for democracy and accountability compared to other U.S. strategic interests. These perceptions brought about a general sense that U.S. governments were indifferent to Africa and its needs. Many of these assumptions appear to have evaporated with the election of Mr. Obama.
BACKGROUND
The International Monetary Fund estimates that since the 1960s, nearly $650 billion USD has been given to sub-Saharan Africa in the form of aid. Whether or not this aid to recipient countries has been beneficial in helping them to emerge from poverty is an open question. Many experts argue that loan conditionality from the international community does more harm than good. Moreover, giving loans to states in Africa whose leaders prefer to spend the funds on their militaries instead of development projects is not constructive.
The concept behind loans and aid is that they work in concert. For decades, the United States placed Peace Corps volunteers in dozens of countries throughout Africa. This was followed by the work of USAID and other development agencies. One goal of these programs was to assist people in acquiring the skills to be better farmers, learn the skills for better governance, become better educated, and have a positive interaction with the West. Countries that benefited under these circumstances were able to increase crop output and were able to feed their people without the need for direct assistance in the form of food shipments.
In 2002, Ghana signed an agreement with the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which “aims to assist in transforming Ghana’s agricultural sector.” The MCC states that it is “based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people.” The MCC’s mission therefore is promote sustainable economic growth to reduce global poverty.
During his speech in Ghana, Mr. Obama emphasized that the legacy of colonialism is no longer a viable excuse for the poor governance or sluggish growth of many African states. Obama noted that his father’s birth country of Kenya had a larger economy in the 1960s than that of South Korea, but that it now lags far behind South Korea on every measurement of development. Despite South Korea’s history of civil war and brutal colonial oppression, he noted that its government, “working with the private sector and civil society, was able to create a set of institutions that provided transparency and accountability and efficiency that allowed for extraordinary economic progress, and that there was no reason why African countries could not do the same.” Mr. Obama further observed that foreign direct investment and the development of civil society will continue to lag in Africa while endemic corruption exists, since “no business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt.”
Yet Obama’s speech was careful to place such criticism within the context of an underlying message of hope. Rather than being mere wishful thinking, this hope appears to be grounded in some encouraging economic developments that have arisen in recent years. One of these encouraging trends is the advent of micro-lending institutions in Africa, which have given loans to farmers and individuals to start small businesses. Another has been in the improvement of small farmers’ agricultural techniques, which will likely play a major role in improving Africa’s ability to feed itself. Moreover, Journalist G. Pascal Zachary writes in the Wilson Quarterly that improved small farming holds the key to increasing prosperity on the continent. Zachary further asserts that increased productivity by African farmers will produce a spillover effect in other economic areas.
ANALYSIS
The West can develop a reciprocal relationship with Ghana and other African states, which can be enhanced by fair trade rules applying to all. The relationship can mature given the realities of the global economic recession. The economic slowdown has shattered the sense of separation between developed and less developed states that has existed for decades, instead bringing to light poor and rich countries’ interconnectedness. It has forced the West to realize that shipping bags of rice to a famine stricken area is not enough, and that more comprehensive policies to encourage growth and good governance are needed.
Armed with Obama’s message and encouraging new ways of thinking that seek to capitalize on Africa’s strengths without ignoring its institutional weaknesses, other African nations may increasingly find themselves with many necessary to join Ghana on its continuing path to economic growth and good governance. This would play a major role in transforming the relationship between the U.S. and many poorer African nations from one of patronage to genuine partnership.
John Lyman is the Administrative Editor of Foreign Policy Digest.
