African nations are perpetually being reminded of what we owe. The word “debt” has all but turned into a whip that is raised to trigger fear and encourage compliance. Isn’t it time we expand the conversation to include what is owed to us, and how a path to reparative justice can be built?
On 30 June, I travelled to Washington, DC, to hold meetings at the US State Department. The primary purpose of the visit was to discuss Ghana-US bilateral relations, particularly in light of recent concerns about regional security, financial commitments and potential visa sanctions due to student overstays.
Positive reception, then an attack
I was accompanied by Ambassador Jane Gasu, our acting Ambassador to the US; Ambassador Ramses Cleland, the chief director of the ministry of foreign affairs; as well as a few top advisers.
We met with the US Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, with whom I had a frank and positive engagement; and the senior bureau official with the Bureau of African Affairs, Ambassador Troy Fitrell, who welcomed us warmly.
It was explained to us that the reason Ghana had been placed on the list of countries that could potentially face a visa ban is that there is a 21% rate of overstays with student visas. The US permits a maximum overstay threshold of 15%.
We left DC looking forward to brighter prospects. Moreover, we felt confident that all of our interactions at our various meetings had been extremely productive. Indeed, this sentiment was confirmed in a tweet by Hooker and in a tweet by the Bureau of African Affairs.
Imagine my surprise, then, to learn that in response to those two tweets, Senator Jim Risch, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had later posted a tweet that was tantamount to an ad hominem attack.
In that tweet, he stated that rather than travelling to Washington, DC, I should have remained in Ghana and focused on repaying Ghana’s debt to America.
Historically, warm ties
Historically, the US and Ghana have consistently nurtured a respectful partnership. Our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, attended Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Some of the most formidable US citizens – including two Nobel Peace prize winners, Ralph Bunche and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, and vice president Richard Nixon – were in Ghana at the hour of our country’s independence.
Dr W.E.B. DuBois, the first black man to receive a PhD from Harvard University and only the second to receive one in America, chose Ghana to be his last home and, subsequently, his final resting place.
In our region, Ghana has been a reliable ally to the US:
- We have a vibrant defence cooperation agreement
- We have executed flagship projects under the Millennium Challenge Compact
- We have served as home to numerous American companies, particularly after Ghana discovered commercial oil and gas and commenced extraction in 2010
- We have been a partner in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which encourages and boosts trade and investment between the US and various African countries.
When the US has had difficult moments, such as in 2016 when it was looking for partners to host ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees, Ghana has remained steadfast in its commitment to being a friend and ally. We did not turn down the US’s request, even though in Ghana, that decision was met with a lukewarm response.
Perhaps with other countries, the curiosity to visit and the desire to expatriate is one-sided, but between the US and Ghana, it goes both ways. Last year, Ghana issued over 80,000 visas to US citizens for tourism and business. Currently, there are roughly 10,000 Americans residing in Ghana as expatriates, and recent months have shown a notable increase.
This partnership between our two countries has weathered numerous political administrations, all the events that have taken place on the global stage, from economic recessions to regional unrest, and the passage of time, a show of endurance which in itself is a test of mutual loyalty.
Ghana economic recovery
Senator Risch’s tweet was not only disappointing, but it was also misleading. If being debt-free were a requirement for travel, very few people of any nationality would be going anywhere, for personal, professional, or even political reasons.
Each administration inherits the debt created by the previous administration. That was the case this January in both the US and Ghana, when each country’s newly elected president was inaugurated.
I can only speak to how Ghana is going about its economic recovery under the new Mahama administration. We have strengthened our currency, so much so that for two consecutive months, the cedi has been listed as the world’s best-performing currency. We have also initiated a debt restructuring programme.
When President Donald Trump cancelled the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) funding that had already been allocated for over 5,000 foreign aid projects, Ghana was one of many countries directly affected.
We are now tasked with finding $156m to cater for the shortfall caused by the Trump executive order, a shortfall that, despite all of our efforts, will still result in the loss of numerous lives.
Ghana will not be deterred by false narratives
I responded to Senator Risch with a tweet reminding him that Ghana is a sovereign nation, and that the US also has a debt to Ghana, one that the two nations have yet to properly discuss.
When African nations speak of the debt that is owed to us for the harm caused by slavery and colonialism, it is framed as an act of defiance. What it is, in actuality, is an act of determination. That is what we have relied on, in the absence of the reparative justice that is due to us, to fight for our survival and to keep progressing.
Ghana is a relatively young country; we turned 68 this past March. If we look at where each of the nations of the Global North were at 68, and take note of their reliance on the natural resources taken from the continent as well as the labour of enslaved Africans during their nation’s maturation, we would begin to see the enormity of their debt to us. We would see, too, how far our resourcefulness, commitment to humanity, and determination have brought us.
Ghana will not be deterred by name-calling, denigration, false narratives, or nasty tweets and social media posts. We will abide by the words of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, “forward ever, backward never”, as we proceed with our aim of providing transformational leadership to attain the full potential of each Ghanaian and to work with our partners, such as the US, across the entire world.