AKWAABA, MR BUSH

TODAY, Mr George Walker Bush, the President of the United States of America, begins a three-day visit to Ghana. He is the second sitting US President to visit Ghana, the first being former President Bill Clinton who came here in March 1998 on a 12-hour visit.
President Bush’s visit to Ghana is worthwhile, contrary to what a few of our compatriots think, for many reasons.
First, the simple reason that a major power like the US has found it worth its while to cement its relationship with us with a visit to our country by its first gentleman should make us feel proud and happy.
Second, the visit will enable the US President to learn at firsthand how initiatives being supported by the US in Ghana and the other African countries he is visiting are faring.
It is worthy of note that since assuming the reins of power in the US in 2001, President Bush has more than doubled America’s official development assistance to Africa from about $10 billion in 2000 to $23 billion in 2006, an increase which is regarded as the largest in terms of development assistance since the Marshall Plan of 1945.
One such development assistance that readily comes to mind is the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), by which the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is helping to reduce poverty in the country through investments in agricultural development, transportation and market accessibility with about $547 million as part of a $5.8 billion support for 15 developing countries worldwide.
There is also the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) which has also been introduced to stimulate economic growth and facilitate the integration of the economies of sub-Saharan Africa into the global economy.
Already, some Ghanaian entrepreneurs are making inroads into the hitherto protected US market with locally-produced fabric, vegetables and artefacts.
We cannot leave out the African Education Initiative which was launched in 2002 and given a further boost by President Bush in May 2007. This initiative is making US international educational programmes more effective by helping to provide basic education for four million children in Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Liberaia, Honduras and Yemen.
One of the health problems confronting Africa is malaria, and President Bush’s malaria initiative and the emergency plan for AIDS relief, by which the Bush administration intends to reduce by half the number of malaria-related deaths in 15 African countries, cannot be glossed over.
In that same initiative, there is a component to make anti-retroviral drugs available to HIV victims in Africa to prolong their lives.
Now, as is obvious to observers of the world scene, US support goes to countries that claim to be building democratic and accountable institutions of governance. Thus for us to have been part of the support from the US means that we are making a serious attempt at best practices in the management of the affairs of state and public affairs generally.
That does not mean that we have not got some difficult terrain to traverse in our march towards attaining a middle-income status. But the modest gains made are quite commendable.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks there is a lot to gain from President Bush’s visit to the country, and it is for that reason that we wish Mr Bush a warm welcome and an enjoyable stay in the country.
We hope that our ties with the US will grow for the mutal benefit of the two countries.