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RUEAHQA/OSAF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ACCRA 000289 
 
FROM AMBASSADOR Teitelbaum 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: OREP OTRA OVIP PREL PGOV ECON AMGT GH
SUBJECT: GHANA: SCENE SETTER FOR CODEL INHOFE VISIT TO 
GHANA APRIL 9-10, 2009 
 
¶1. (U) Senators Inhofe and Enzi and Representative Boozeman:  Our 
entire 
mission joins me in extending to you a very warm welcome to Ghana. 
We 
hope your visit here helps inform you and your team, and we look 
forward 
to supporting your objectives. 
 
¶2. (U) SUMMARY. Ghana?s December, 2008 election saw the country?s 
second 
transfer of power between political parties since the nation?s 
return to 
constitutional democracy in 1992.  Professor John Evans Atta Mills, 
a 
former vice-president (and Fulbright Scholar) was elected President 
in a 
narrow run-off election.  His party, the National Democratic 
Congress, 
gained enough seats in parliament to be, with minor party support, 
the 
governing party. Ghana faces economic challenges, particularly high 
 
inflation and growing budget and current account deficits.  However, 
 
economic growth is expected to be positive in 2009, and the country 
 
should begin exporting oil by 2011. Ghana has a good record on human 
 
rights, an apolitical military, and a lively media. Progress 
continues 
on the implementation of the $547 million compact through the 
Millennium 
Challenge Corporation. 
 
¶3. (U) Summary continued:  Ghana has made impressive progress in 
democratic and economic development but challenges such as poverty, 
 
corruption, lack of adequate infrastructure, an improving but still 
 
difficult business climate, and narcotics trafficking (cocaine and 
heroin) must be overcome if Ghana is to achieve its goal of reaching 
 
middle income status by 2015. 
 
¶4. (U) U.S. interests center on support for Ghana's democracy, 
poverty 
reduction and shared prosperity, private sector development, 
security 
cooperation, and enhanced people-to-people and cultural ties.  Ghana 
is 
a reliable partner in peacekeeping, conflict resolution, countering 
 
terrorism and in economic development. We share with the Government 
of 
Ghana a growing concern about Ghana?s role as a transshipment point 
for 
narcotics, particularly cocaine from Latin America. 
 
 
 
 
THE 2009 ELECTION 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Ghana?s 2008 election saw the country?s second peaceful 
transfer 
of power between political parties.  Former President John Kufuor 
was 
constitutionally limited from a third term in office.  Ghana?s main 
 
political parties, the New Patriotic Party and the National 
Democratic 
Congress, along with several minor parties, staged a hard fought 
campaign.  The NPP was led by the former Foreign Minister, Nana 
Akufo- 
Addo. In the first round of presidential voting, none of candidates 
 
received a majority of the votes cast, necessitating a run-off 
election, 
which was won by less than 40,000 votes by the NDC?s candidate, 
 
ACCRA 00000289  002 OF 005 
 
 
former 
vice-president and law professor, John Evans Atta Mills. Domestic 
and 
international election observers declared the election to be free, 
transparent and to have reflected the will of the people.  The U.S. 
 
Mission in Ghana fielded eighty election observer teams as part of 
the 
international election observation program. 
 
¶6. (U). Even prior to the 2008 election campaigns, the main parties 
were 
increasingly polarized. However, Ghanaian voters showed a strong 
commitment to peaceful elections, and other than a few violent 
incidents 
during the campaign, the election was generally peaceful. Civil 
society, 
particularly religious associations, is active, and worked for 
months 
ahead of the voting to promote peaceful elections. 
 
THE MILLS ADMINISTRATION 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ghana is a stable country, with an apolitical military, a 
solid 
record on human rights, and a lively, free media. 
After 17 years of democratic governance, Ghanaians are committed to 
 
democracy.  Ghana has held five consecutive democratic national 
Elections deemed to have been free and fair.  The constitution 
provides 
parliament with little power relative to the executive, and the 
legislature lacks basic resources such as staffing. 
 
¶8. (SBU) President Mills? cabinet contains several members who 
served in 
the last NDC government under former President Rawlings. The cabinet 
 
includes a mix of technocrats and elected Members of Parliament. 
Mills 
campaigned on a pledge to have 40% of senior government positions 
filled 
by women, and a large number of women have been appointed to 
positions 
(even though fewer women were elected to parliament in 2008). 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ghana?s foreign policy is unlikely to change significantly 
 
under the Mills? administration. Ghana will continue to provide 
military 
support for peacekeeping operations. Domestically, the resident 
pledged 
to improve health care, education, and campaigned on a platform of 
making investments to lead to job creation. Economic conditions, 
including budget deficits, may delay the implementation of NDC 
priorities. 
 
 
 
 
 
U.S. ASSISTANCE TO GHANA 
----------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) USAID provides significant support for Ghana's development, 
 
averaging about $40 million annually 2004-2007 in addition to $22 - 
$25 
million in food aid prior to FY 2007.  While food aid is being 
phased 
out, additional support for HIV/AIDS, malaria and education under 
the 
special Presidential Initiatives has increased overall funding for 
USAID 
to approximately $80 million in FY 2008 and an expected $115 million 
in 
FY 2009.  Ghana's strong performance was recognized in 2006 with the 
 
signing of a five-year, $547 million Compact with the Millennium 
 
ACCRA 00000289  003 OF 005 
 
 
Challenge Corporation, aimed at transforming Ghana?s agricultural 
sector.  The Compact has three main components: enhancing 
profitability 
of small farmers; reducing costs affecting agricultural commerce 
through 
improvements in infrastructure, including roads; and expanding basic 
 
services in thirty key agricultural districts. Ghana is the original 
 
Peace Corps country, with volunteers serving here since 1961; today, 
 
approximately 130 volunteers are working at the community level in 
education, health awareness, water and sanitation, and environmental 
 
protection. The PEPFAR program in Ghana will expand this year to $17 
 
million, and is the largest HIV/AIDS donor supported prevention 
program 
in the country. 
 
DIFFICULT CHALLENGES REMAIN 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Despite Ghana's democracy and stability, political power 
is 
centralized in the executive, and institutions such as the 
judiciary, 
are still developing and often under-resourced. Corruption is a 
factor, 
and Ghana faces human rights challenges relating to child labor and 
 
human trafficking. Ghana also faces a range of security chllenges, 
 
including a rise in violent street crime and vigilante justice, 
sometimes violent chieftaincy succession disputes, a proliferation 
of 
small arms, and a growing problem with narcotics trafficking. This 
trafficking involves the transshipment of cocaine from Latin America 
, 
and to a lesser degree heroin from Central Asia, into Europe and the 
 
U.S. The Ghana Police Service and other authorities have requested 
assistance in countering narcotics; the police have also been at the 
 
center of scandals involving the disappearance of seized cocaine. In 
 
2009 the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration opened an office in 
Accra. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Despite shocks to the economy from the current fiscal 
crisis 
based on two years of pre-election over-spending, inflationary 
trends 
caused by global food shortages, spiking fuel prices, and currency 
depreciation throughout 2008, and the global financial crisis, 
Ghana's 
growth is still expected to be positive in 2009, largely due to 
buoyant 
gold and cocoa prices on the world market. However, Ghana's economic 
 
situation is deteriorating. The country is challenged by 
unsustainable 
twin deficits-?the current account deficit is at about 11 percent of 
 
GDP, and its trade deficit is 26 percent of GDP--mostly due to the 
high 
oil prices of 2008.  Ghana is running a budget deficit of about 13 
percent of GDP, an increase of four percentage points from the 
previous 
year.  Ghana?s major sources of foreign exchange include exports of 
 
cocoa, gold, and diamonds which account for more than 65 percent of 
 
exports. Remittances from overseas workers are also economically 
important, and have already declined 30 percent between December 
2008 
and January 2009, double the median change over the past four years. 
 
The drop in remittances is causing layoffs in the banking sector as 
well 
 
ACCRA 00000289  004 OF 005 
 
 
as a dearth of foreign exchange available to the government.  Ghana 
is 
also dependent on foreign assistance, with 40 percent of its budget 
 
coming from Development Partners. Inflation crossed 20 percent in 
February 2009.  Meanwhile, the Ghana cedi continues the 2008 trend 
of 
depreciation against the dollar and other world currencies--falling 
by 
11 percent the first two months of 2009 alone. he impact of the 
2007 
discovery of commercially viable offshore oil reserves is a wild 
card in 
Ghana's energy and economic future.  Oil production is expected by 
¶2011. 
Once the Government of Ghana begins receiving oil revenue the 
financial 
windfall will likely present significant revenue management 
challenges 
as well as development opportunities. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Social indicators such as maternal and infant mortality 
rates 
are substantially better than levels in the 1980s but remain high 
and 
have not changed significantly in the last ten years. Primary school 
 
attendance in 2007-8 reached 95% of potential students, although 
quality 
is lacking. Poverty levels have decreased from 52% in 1992 to 28% in 
 
¶2007. Ghanaians have mixed opinions on whether they have benefited 
from 
the country?s macroeconomic success.  According to the Center for 
Democratic Development?s 2008 Afrobarometer survey, 45 percent of 
respondents thought that the country?s economic policies were fair 
or 
good, but a similar percentage disagreed. 
 
GHANA IN THE WORLD 
------------------ 
 
¶14. (U) Ghana has been playing an increasingly significant and 
positive 
global leadership role.  It is an active member of the Economic 
Community of West African States (ECOWAS), chaired the African Union 
in 
2007, and recently concluded a term as a non-permanent member of the 
UN 
Security Council.  Ghana is the world?s sixth largest contributor of 
 
troops to UN Peacekeeping Missions and currently has personnel 
serving 
in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 
Lebanon.  Ghanaian elder statesman and former UN Secretary General 
Kofi 
Annan helped broker a fragile power-sharing agreement in Kenya. 
Ghana is 
also a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Ghana 
prefers 
multilateral solutions to global problems and has a history of 
committed 
African leadership, based on consensus among players. 
 
GHANA AND THE U.S. 
------------------ 
 
¶15. (SBU) Our bilateral relations are exceptionally good, and 
Ghanaians 
and citizens of the U.S. share a love of democracy, human rights, 
educational opportunity, free enterprise, peace and stability. 
There is 
a deep reservoir of goodwill toward the United States and a genuine 
 
appreciation of our role and contributions to this society. 
Approximately 3000 Ghanaian students are studying in the United 
States 
in forty-four states, and the Mission nominates many strong 
candidates 
for International Visitor Programs that enhance professional 
 
ACCRA 00000289  005 OF 005 
 
 
development.  Ghana, in partnership with AFRICOM, has made great 
strides 
in developing its maritime domain awareness, improving its 
commercial 
port security and safeguarding its territorial waters.  Africa 
Partnership Station, a six-month U.S. deployment to the Gulf of 
Guinea, 
recently wrapped up training in Ghana, providing courses to 
personnel of 
the Ghana Navy and civilian maritime agencies. Remittances from 
Ghanaians working abroad sent home about $1.9 billion in 2008, much 
of 
it from the U.S., although the level of remittances has declined in 
 
recent months. 
 
¶16. (U) Again, the members of the U.S. Mission in Accra look forward 
to 
welcoming you to experience some of Ghana?s successes and challenges 
 
first hand. 
 
 
TEITELBAUM