Ghana: Background and U.S. Relations
Nicolas Cook
Specialist in African Affairs
July 8, 2009
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS22809
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
Ghana: Background and U.S. Relations
Summary
This report provides information on current developments in Ghana and Ghana’s relations with
the United States, which are close. It describes the purpose of President Barack Obama's
forthcoming trip to Ghana, which will focus on issues of good governance and socio-economic
and political development, and characterizes the current state of play in bilateral relations. It also
summarizes the policy agenda of Ghana's president, John Atta Mills, who won office by a narrow
margin in elections in late 2008. The dynamics of that election are described in the report, as are
recent policy-centered developments, economic challenges and performance, and socio-economic
prospects. Ghana's international relations and bilateral development cooperation with the United
States are also covered in the report.
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Contents
Overview and Current Developments .......................................................................................... 1
President Obama’s Trip to Ghana .......................................................................................... 2
Mills Administration ................................................................................................................... 4
Policy Agenda....................................................................................................................... 4
Governance.....................................................................................................................4
Economic Growth ........................................................................................................... 5
Social and Infrastructure Investment ............................................................................... 6
2008 Election.............................................................................................................................. 7
Kufuor Record ............................................................................................................................ 8
Economy .................................................................................................................................... 9
Economic and Related Policy Prospects .............................................................................. 10
International Relations .............................................................................................................. 11
U.S. Relations ........................................................................................................................... 12
Bilateral Assistance ............................................................................................................. 12
Governance................................................................................................................... 13
Investing in People........................................................................................................ 13
Economic Growth ......................................................................................................... 14
Peace, Security, and Counternarcotics ........................................................................... 15
Other Bilateral Assistance and Cooperation ................................................................... 16
Millennium Challenge Corporation ............................................................................... 16
State Department and USAID Assistance Summary....................................................... 16
Tables
Table 1. Bilateral State Department and USAID Assistance to Ghana, FY2008 to
FY2010.................................................................................................................................. 17
Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 17
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Ghana: Background and U.S. Relations
Overview and Current Developments
President Barack Obama is slated to travel to Ghana from July 10 to 11, following the president's
attendance at the G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy. Key purposes of the trip, discussed further
below, are to highlight Ghana as “a shining example" in Africa “of the importance of free and fair
elections”; to underscore "the critical role that sound governance and civil society play in
promoting lasting development" in Africa; and to stress the continuing commitment of the United
States to invest in such development.1 The trip will also provide a forum for discussions between
President Obama and President John Atta Mills of Ghana, one of the United States’ “most trusted
partners in sub-Saharan Africa” on “a range of bilateral and regional issues.”2
President Obama’s trip to Ghana comes almost exactly six months after the inauguration of
President Mills, following presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2008. President
Obama had previously characterized these elections, which at the presidential level were
reportedly among the closest ever in post-colonial Africa, as demonstrating “the Ghanaian
people's commitment to democratic governance” and as an exemplar of Ghana’s “democratic
leadership in Africa, particularly in light of the troubling coups in Mauritania, Guinea, and
Madagascar.”3 The 2008 election marked Ghana’s fifth consecutive democratic national election
and preceded its second democratic transfer of power from one political party to another. This
watershed, a rare occurrence in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa, signified Ghana’s further
maturation as a democracy following a transition from “no-party” rule that began in 1992.
U.S.-Ghanaian relations are warm. President Obama’s trip follows an early 2008 trip by former
President George W. Bush to Ghana, which in 2006 signed a $547 million U.S. Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact. The goal of President Bush’s 2008 trip, during which he
also visited several other African countries, was to personally review MCC and other U.S. aid
programs in Africa. He held talks with former Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor and
other African leaders on prospective continued U.S.-African partnership to sustain “democratic
reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes, and economic opportunity”
across Africa. His visit to Ghana focused on improved health prospects for Ghana resulting from
its designation in 2008 as a President’s Malaria Initiative focus country; prospective education
improvements resulting from Ghana’s participation in the President’s Expanded Education
Initiative; and trade growth efforts under the U.S. African Global Competitiveness Initiative
(AGCI). The AGCI West Africa Trade Hub, which promotes intra-African and U.S.-African trade,
1 White House, Statement by the Press Secretary on Upcoming Travel by the President, May 16, 2009 and Press
Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, June 22, 2009
2 White House, Statement by the Press Secretary on Upcoming Travel….
3 White House, Readout of the President's call with President Mills of Ghana, Office of the Press Secretary, April 10,
2009. Mills won the run-off by garnering a 0.45% vote margin (40,586 votes of more than 9 million cast) over that of
his opponent, New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. Mills entered the run-off by coming in second
in a preceding eight-candidate first round election, with 47.06% votes cast, behind Akufo-Addo, who won a 47.55%
vote share. Akufo-Addo’s vote margin allowed him win the first round, but he failed to garner the 50% threshold
needed to win the presidency outright, thus triggering the run-off. Electoral Commission of Ghana "Presidential
(Runoff)," Election Results, January 3, 2009 and "2008 Results Summary - Final Results," online at
http://ec.gov.gh/results; and; and BBC News, “Profile: Ghana President John Mills,” January 3, 2009.
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is based in Ghana, which also hosts the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
regional development program.
Apart from development cooperation, Ghana is widely seen as a key U.S. partner in the region
and as an African “success story” in light of its successful transition to democracy and attainment
of substantial economic gains in recent years, albeit in the face of continuing widespread poverty
rates. It is a stable country in an often volatile sub-region, and has helped to mediate several
political and/or military conflicts in West Africa over the last quarter century. It is also praised for
its near-constant contribution of troops to international peacekeeping operations in Africa and
elsewhere. Ghana has also drawn attention recently because of its recent discovery of a sizable
reserve of crude oil. This reserve promises to boost national income and development prospects,
but―based on the experience of many other oil-rich developing countries—may also pose
substantial good governance and resource management challenges. Ghana, like the United States,
also faces challenges with respect to narcotics trafficking, notably with respect to a rise in recent
years of cocaine being transported from South America to Europe via West Africa, and a shared
interest in countering such trafficking is a growing area of U.S.-Ghanaian cooperation.4
President Obama’s Trip to Ghana
President Obama’s trip to Ghana is being preceded by a multi-leg trip to other countries,
including a visit to Russia for bilateral talks and to Italy and the Vatican for bilateral meetings, the
G8 summit and related meetings.5 The latter are substantially to focus on African and developing
country issues. They include a “G8-plus-5-plus-1” meeting (i.e., a meeting of the G8 plus five
major emerging economies, China, India, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil, plus Egypt, which
was invited to participate by Italy) and a working breakfast of the G8 plus African countries and
five international organizations, as well as a U.S. bilateral meeting with South Africa, among
other meetings.
According to presidential African affairs aide Michelle Gavin, President Obama’s trip to Ghana is
meant to signal his particular interest “in emphasizing themes of governance—the importance of
governance for making development progress [and…] for stability” in Africa and the broader
developing world. Ghana was chosen, she said, because “Ghana is a truly admirable example of a
place where governance is getting stronger, a thriving democracy,” a status exemplified by the
election of 2008. The election was laudable, she suggested, because despite the narrow margin
between the two run-off contestants, and in contrast to many political crisis-generating elections
in multiple other African countries, in Ghana “power was transferred peacefully” to a new
government that “continue[s] to pursue a development agenda and bolster the rule of law.”6
4 White House, Readout of the President's call...; and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
Confronting Drug Trafficking in West Africa, 111th Cong., 1st sess., June 23, 2009; and CRS report, forthcoming.
5 This section, and all direct quotations within it, is drawn from a July 1, 2009 White House Press briefing on the
President's trip to Russia, Italy, and Africa by Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic
Communications, Michael Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, Michelle
Gavin, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, and Michael Mcfaul, Special
Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs, and in particular from comments made
by Ms. Gavin.
6 In a response to a reporter’s question following the briefing, Ms. Gavin cited as examples of undemocratic changes of
(continued...)
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Gavin stated that while in Ghana, President Obama would have discussions with President Mills
“about a number of important issues” in furtherance of what she characterized as a “strong
bilateral relationship.” Issues to be discussed include “development priorities, including
agricultural development” and “governance issues,” the latter contextualized in Ghana’s
anticipated “challenges as a new oil wealth is slated to come online within the next couple years”
which, she said, “always creates an interesting governance challenge.” Other issues slated to be
addressed, Gavin said, include food security, maternal health and mortality, and “regional
issues… relating to stability, governance, counternarcotics, which is an important issue in West
Africa”―all issues of current interest within the 111th Congress.7
The President is also slated to give a speech about some of the themes that are being addressed in
his discussions with President Mills. The speech is the last of a four-part thematic series of
overseas speeches laying out some of President Obama’s key foreign policy views, and is to
center on the relationship between democracy and development in Africa and in the wider
developing world.8 It is slated, in particular, to focus on the importance of good governance and
the need to institutionalize of an interplay between elected officials, voters, civil society and local
initiatives in achieving that end. The speech is also expected to focus on the key role played by
national self determination and achievement in attaining socio-economic and political
development, in contrast to donor-led development. Following the speech, President Obama and
Mrs. Obama are slated to visit to Cape Coast, along Ghana's central coast, which is the location of
the Cape Coast Slave Castle, a key holding point for slaves prior to their forced trans-Atlantic
passage to the Americas.
In contextualizing the Africa portion of President Obama’s trip in relation to his preceding visit to
Russia and Italy, Ms. Gavin characterized the Ghana visit as “quite intentional” and meant to
underscore “the point that Africa is integrated broadly into” the Administration’s foreign policy
strategy and that “African voices are an important part of global discussions on key global
issues.” She and other briefers highlighted the fact that African governments would participate in
a number of meetings at the G8 summit. Gavin also drew a correlation between the issue themes
being discussed at the G8 summit and policy challenges faced by African countries, such as a
need for economic resilience, a capacity to weather the current economic downturn, achieve
socio-economic development goals, as well as global issues, such as climate change—and what
(...continued)
government in Africa coups d’état in Mauritania, Madagascar, and Guinea. She also cited as “problematic” elections in
Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and pointed to a further emerging challenge to democratic governance in Niger. Niger’s
President Mamadou Tandja has asserted a right to rule by emergency decree after failing to secure a constitutional
change overturning term limits that would have allowed him to extend his tenure.
7 See, for instance, U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Confronting Drug Trafficking in West
Africa, 111th Cong., 1st sess., June 23, 2009; H.R. 1410, Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act of 2009
(McCollum); H.Res. 550, Recognizing the "Day of the African Child" on June 16, 2009, devoted to the theme of child
survival and to emphasize the importance of reducing maternal, newborn, and child deaths in Africa (Payne); and
recent Dear Colleague letters on maternal health; and multiple bills and hearings focusing on food security in the100th
and 111th Congresses.
8 According to the briefers, the first speech, in Prague, the Czech Republic, expressed President Obama's views on
proliferation and the role of small states in the international system and in the context of U.S. national security goals.
The second, in Cairo, Egypt, set out a vision for U.S. relations with communities in the Muslim world and associated
issues faced jointly with those communities, e.g., terrorism, extremism, and lasting peace in the Middle East. A third
speech, in Moscow, focused on U.S.-Russia relations and the role of great powers in the current century.
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she characterized as the underlying importance of good governance in successfully addressing
them.
Mills Administration
President Mills took office on January 7, 2009, succeeding former President Kufuor after the
latter’s second term in office. The new government’s first priority reportedly centered on gaining
control over economic policy administration and the government’s administrative apparatus from
the departing NPP government. In particular, it reportedly sought to stabilize the declining
exchange rate of the national currency, the cedi; halt a rapid rise in fiscal spending, leading to a
rising current account deficit; and check inflation. These challenges have been compounded by
the global recession, a strengthening dollar, a slowing economy, due in part to weakening
commodity prices and a contraction of access to international and local credit, but have been
aided by a decline in imports and growth in exports.9
Policy Agenda
Mills, as stated in his 2009 state of the nation address to parliament, has pledged to fulfill the
goals outlined in the NDC party election platform.10 Key policy areas addressed under the
manifesto include governance; economic growth and investment; investment in people (e.g.,
health sector and education); and investments in infrastructure for growth.11
Governance
The Mills government has pledged to undertake a number of administrative reforms to prevent
government corruption and strengthen the organizations that investigate and prosecute corruption,
including by insulating the Serious Fraud Office from political interference, and by passing a
Freedom of Information Bill to ensure public access to official information. It also proposes
substantial capacity building of computer-based systems to enforce efficient and transparent use
of public funds and bolster administrative oversight of government activities. It also seeks to
ensure increased and equitable access to justice, through judicial system capacity-building, the
use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and legal aid, and efforts to prevent the corrupt
or political manipulation of justice. The NDC has also promised increased national and public
security through diverse efforts to build national border control, police, intelligence, and military
capacities and personnel diversity, and resolve several political murders. The government is, in
particular, seeking to bring such assets to bear on counternarcotics activities. The manifesto states
that Mills’s NDC government will seek to “reverse Ghana’s image as an easy target for money
9 Africa Confidential, "Lining up the Mills team," February 6, 2009; and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Ghana
Country Report, June 2009.
10 NDC, A Better Ghana: Investing in People, Jobs and the Economy, 2008; and Parliament of Ghana, State of the
Nation Address by His Excellency John Evans Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana, February 19, 2009
11 The manifesto states that the calls for “the NDC government” will establish s “Monitoring Unit that will watch and
measure the implementation of the pledges and promise[s]” outlined in the document. All direct quotations in the
following sections on Mills Administration policy are from the manifesto. NDC, A Better Ghana...
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laundering and [illicit] drug transport” through asset seizures, correlate drug prosecution assets
and the severity of resulting sentences with the “seriousness of the crime,” including by targeting
high-level drug criminals and “their powerful allies.” The Mills Administration also seeks to
Profile: President John Mills
Ghana’s current president, Dr. John Evans Fiifi Mills, popularly known as the “The Prof,” was born in July 1944 at
Tarkwa in Ghana’s Western Region. Prior to being elected in 2008, he had twice—in 2000 and in 2004—
unsuccessfully competed for the presidency as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against
former President Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Mills had previously served as Ghana’s national Vice
President from 1997 to 2001 in the administration of former president Jerry Rawlings. A former national tax
commissioner and professor of law at the University of Ghana, Legon, Mills holds a BA in law from the University of
Ghana, Legon and a PhD in Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, the United Kingdom,
where he wrote a dissertation focusing on taxation and economic development. He also attended Stanford Law
School as a Fulbright scholar and has taught and lectured at several foreign institution of higher learning. He has
served as a board or executive member or examiner at multiple high-level Ghanaian national financial, economic, and
business institutions. President Mills is married to Ernestina Naadu Mills, an educator, and has a son, Sam Kofi Mills.
The relationship between Mills and Rawlings is a delicate one for Mills. Rawlings, the founder of the NDC, is a
charismatic former president who, despite having no reported further aspirations for public office, is viewed as
maintaining a popular base of support within the NDC. He regularly comments on current events and national
political personalities, often in a no-holds barred manner that often provokes controversy. He is viewed as having
brought Mills to national political prominence by selecting Mills as his vice presidential NDC party running mate in the
1996 election. There has long been speculation in the Ghanaian press over whether Rawlings wields influence over
Mills, who once provoked controversy by stating that he would consult with Rawlings if elected. While there is some
concordance between some policy actions advocated by Rawlings and those taken by Mills, it is not clear that these
reflect Rawlings’s influence, and not simply shared policy views. There are also some signs of differences between the
two men. Rawlings has criticized Mills’s selection of nominees for government leadership posts, and accused him of
failing to more forcefully push for probes or prosecution of allegedly corrupt Kufuor Administration figures. In
addition, while some former Rawlings administration officials occupy posts in the Mills Administration, Mills has
reportedly sidelines other Rawlings associates, suggesting that Mills is his own man.
Sources: NDC, “The Candidate,” n.d., http://www.attamills2008.com ; Ghana Review International, “Professor John
Evans Mills (NDC),” n.d., http://www.ghanareview.com; Africa Confidential, “Is Rawlings the back-seat driver?,”
February 6, 2009 and “The Mills grind slowly,” April 17, 2009; and BBC News, “Profile: Ghana President John Mills,”
January 3, 2009.
increase the role of women in government decision and policy-making by increasing to “at least
40%” the representation of women in government, public service and in the NDC; increase the
role of women in education; make “reproductive and other female health issues central” to social
and health policy; and promote education and legislative measures to ensure women’s rights. It
also seeks to increase representative and decentralized governance and accountability at the local
level through various means; enhance operational proficiency, profitability, and the accountability
of public sector companies.
Economic Growth
The NDC manifesto calls for pursuit of an “activist and enabling state” that will help boost
business growth and credit access, notably to small businesses, many part of the large informal
sector, including through the provision of tax breaks to financial institutions that help achieve
these goals. It also calls for the government to facilitate “fair” and legal access to land and
property ownership titles; enact business-friendly regulatory reform; and boost job creation,
especially for Ghana’s youthful population. It also seeks to promote Ghana’s access to
international markets by pursuing efforts to gain “relief in international trade arrangements to
protect domestic industry”; increase export promotion efforts; providing aid to Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries “in exchange for export markets for
Ghanaian made goods”; and by privileging public procurement purchases of Ghanaian goods.
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The document also calls for efforts to make Ghana a financial hub for finance in West Africa,
build the local banking sector, and enhance bank regulation by the Bank of Ghana. It also lays out
a local industrial support policy focused particularly on decentralization of industrialization, duty-
free treatment for industries targeted for high-priority growth. These include agriculture
processing, textiles, mining, petro-chemicals, fertilizer, salt, and cement production,
pharmaceuticals, afro-forestry and wood products, shea, housing and road construction.
Agricultural growth is a particular target of the government’s economic growth policy, and the
manifesto lays out a wide range of efforts to aid the farm sector, ranging from diverse production
growth and technology enhancing strategies to increased access to credit and markets to diverse
types of agricultural infrastructure growth. The key cocoa industry, as well as the cotton, cashew,
rubber, oil palm, soy, fruit, shea nut, timber, and coconut crop sectors, along with bio-fuel and
medicinal plants and fisheries, are especially targeted to receive such assistance. Mining reforms,
particularly in support of local mining communities, are another focal policy area for the
government.
Social and Infrastructure Investment
Key foci of the social investment to investment policies of the Mills Administration, as outlined
in the NDC manifesto, include health Care-related efforts to address “malnutrition, poor
sanitation, unsafe water, poverty and a shortage of health care providers’ equal high infant and
maternal mortality, [and] large gaps in health care between urban and rural, rich and poor.” The
means for achieving such ends include expanding access to quality, affordable basic primary
health services through diverse administrative reforms, greater medical personnel training and
compensation. Increased access to education is another key policy goal, and efforts in this area
center on increasing teacher training, motivation, and retention and expanding access to free
primary; technical and vocational education; and tertiary education. The government also
supports a wide range of programs to alleviate poverty, ranging from adult illiteracy efforts to
increased transparency in government development efforts to increased access to water, sanitation
and social services. Urban slum renovation and increased access to housing and jobs by the poor
in cities is another major element of poverty alleviation efforts by the government, but it also
seeks to decrease rural poverty, primarily by boosting agriculture and access to infrastructure and
transportation.
Infrastructure growth is the final major policy priority of the Mills Administration. According to
the NDC manifesto, the government will seek to expand housing, access to water and sanitation,
and transport infrastructure through a mix of regulatory reforms, technical efficiency
advancements, and basic construction investments. Electricity sector reforms and investment and
transparent effective governance and use of what is expected to be a very large influx of oil
revenues in future years are among the other major policy elements of the Administration’s policy
agenda.
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2008 Election
Ghana held presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7, 2008, resulting in a marginal
electoral win for the NDC. The election campaign was contested vigorously but was reportedly
largely peaceful. Focal electoral issues included public dissatisfaction over electricity and water
shortages, rising food, fuel, and utility prices, and reports of corruption.12 Recent economic
expansion and prospective oil revenue-fueled growth, however, were seen as benefitting the NPP,
as were divisions in the NDC, from which a dissenting faction broke away to form a new splinter
party. While Mills was selected as the NDC presidential candidate, notwithstanding his two
earlier losses as NDC flag bearer, 18 NPP candidates fiercely vied for the NPP nomination in the
run-up to the NPP party congress in late 2007. Akufo-Addo won the nomination in the first round
of voting, surprising some observers, given that President Kufuor had reportedly favored another
candidate. The NPP nomination process drew some criticism because the $25,000 party
nomination fee, in a country with an average income of about $520, was seen as barring
contenders who lacked wealth or could not raise large amounts of cash to rally support.13 Ghana
generally enjoys inter-ethnic harmony, but regional rivalries and disparities that are sometimes
viewed in ethnic terms play a role in politics.14 Ethnicity, however, does not appear to have played
an overt or key role in the election.
With some minor, mostly technical exceptions, voting on December 7 was free, open, and
transparent, according to reports by national and international observers who monitored the vote,
along with a large number of national political party observers.15 The election elicited widespread
praise internationally, despite some minor shortcomings.16 These reportedly included temporary
shortages of voting materials at some polling places, along with limited, minor allegations of
irregularities, mainly in two constituencies, Asutifi South and Akwatia.17 In the initial presidential
vote, John Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party won a 47.92%
12 See, among others, United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), “Ghana: Critical issues in 7
December elections,” December 4, 2008.
13 Several leading contenders, dubbed the “monetocracy,” reportedly funded expensive campaigns to court NPP
delegates. Press reports raised questions over the funding sources of some NPP contenders. Africa Confidential,
“Ghana: ‘Who spends, wins’,” November 30, 2007 and Africa Confidential, “Ghana, Race to the top,” December 14,
2007, among others.
14 The NPP has always fielded an ethnic Akan presidential and a vice-presidential candidate from the north since the
reinstatement of multiparty politics in 1992, and is viewed as predominating in the Akan south and southeast. The
NDC’s traditional base of support, by contrast, is in the multi-ethnic, largely Islamic north and among Ewes in the
south. Africa Confidential, “Ghana: ‘Who spends...,” inter alia.
15 Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), “Press Release (Close of Day),” December 7, 2008; EU
Election Observation Mission, Republic of Ghana 2008, “Parliamentary and Presidential elections in Ghana conducted
in an open, transparent and competitive environment,” [press release], December 9, 2008; EU, European Union
Election Observation Mission Ghana, “A Competitive Campaign and a High Degree of Transparency on Election Day
Reflect Ghana’s Democratic Culture,” Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, 7 December 2008, Preliminary
Statement, December 9, 2008; and Electoral Commission of Ghana, “AU observer team call on Minister,” December
11, 2008, inter alia.
16 Scott Stearns, “World Leaders Congratulate Ghana on Democratic Election,” Voice of America,” January 5, 2009.
17 Ibid. Also see Ghana News Today via PeaceFMOnline.com, “5th Parliament to be Ushered in on Jan. 7th,” January 3,
2009; Ghana News Agency (GNA) via Myjoyonline.Com, “Electoral offenders before court,” January 6, 2009; and
GNA via Myjoyonline.Com, “EC suspends Akwatia constituency parliamentary election,” December 27, 2008.
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vote share. His main rival, former Foreign Affairs Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of
the New Patriotic Party (NPP)—President Kufuor’s party and the majority party after the
previous election in 2004—won a 49.13% vote share. Given that neither leading candidate
attained a 50% vote share, a requirement for electoral victory, a run-off vote was later held. In the
December 7 parliamentary vote, the opposition NDC achieved a narrow majority, winning 114
(50%) of 228 seats for which results had been determined as of January 6, 2009—of a total of 230
seats—against 107 (nearly 47%) seats for the NPP. Seven additional seats were won by two minor
parties and independent candidates. The winners of two seats had not been certified as of January
6, 2009.
A presidential run-off vote between Mills and Akufo-Addo was held in 229 constituencies on
December 28, resulting in a 50.13% vote share for Mills, with Akufo-Addo winning 49.87% of
the vote, 23,050 votes fewer than Mills.18 These results failed to decide the election, however,
because incorrect allocations of voting materials were delivered to one constituency, Tain District,
in the central Brong Ahafo Region, potentially disenfranchising voters.19 This discrepancy
prompted the Electoral Commission to order a repeat of runoff balloting in Tain, an outcome that
conferred on Tain’s estimated 53,000 voters the potential power to decide the outcome of the
race.20 Although the NPP considered a legal challenge to and later a political boycott of the Tain
vote, which was controversial and spurred some very minor, isolated post-election violence, it
later accepted the outcome.21 After Tain was added to the national run-off totals, Mills garnered a
winning 50.23% share of votes cast against a 49.77% vote share for Akufo-Addo.22
Kufuor Record
Kufuor, a former veteran opposition figure and Oxford-trained lawyer, businessman, and former
deputy foreign minister and parliamentarian, was ineligible to run for the presidency in 2008 due
to constitutional term limits. He first won the presidency in 2000, having bested Mills in a poll
that led to Ghana’s widely praised, first-ever democratic presidential and political party
succession. In 2004, he again triumphed over Mills, winning 52% of votes in a poll that was
18 Kwasi Kpodo, “Ghana presidential hopefuls in last-ditch vote race,” Reuters, December 31, 2008.
19 Carter Center, “Carter Center Deploys Observers to Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo Region to Observe Tain Constituency’s
Elections,” December 31, 2008.
20 Such an outcome was viewed as unlikely by press commentators, however, because in the first round, only 59% of
Tain’s voters had turned out. Of these voters, about 97% had reportedly split their ballots between the two leading
candidates, with about 52% of these voters selecting Mills and about 48% choosing Akufo-Addo. CRS analysis and
Xinhua, “Ghana presidential election results not declared for disputed votes in some areas,” December 31, 2008, inter
alia.
21 Joy FM, “Ghanaian ruling party withdraws legal concerns relating to run-off polls,” via OSC, January 2, 2009;
Agence France Presse (AFP), “Violent protest over Ghana poll results,” December 31, 2008; Kissy Agyeman,
“Election 2008: Tensions Mount in Ghana as Electoral Commission Stalls Presidential Poll Announcement,” Global
Insight Daily Analysis, December 31, 2008; Media Foundation for West Africa, “Ghana: Opposition Party Supporters
‘Allegedly’ Assault Journalist in Accra,” via OSC, January 3, 2009; Joy FM, “Defeated Ghanaian presidential
candidate congratulates winner,” via OSC, January 3, 2009; Ghanaian TV3, “Ghanaian ruling party presidential
hopeful concedes defeat,” via OSC January 3, 2009; and AFP, “Ghana: The Country Prepares for 2nd Alternate Power
Handover in 10 Years,” via OSC, January 4, 2009.
22 Electoral Commission, “Latest News” and “Final Figures of the Presidential Run-off Elections,” January 6, 2009.
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generally calm, peaceful, and transparent, though marred by limited violence.23 In simultaneous
parliamentary elections, Kufuor’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) increased its legislative margin by
26%, winning 128 seats, while the NDC won 94. Two smaller parties and an independent won all
other seats.24 Kufuor used the slogan “So far, so good” to claim a solid record of economic
stability, market-based reforms and growth, and broad quality of life improvements after a period
of economic stagnation under the NDC.
Kufuor’s reelection in 2004 marked Ghana’s fourth consecutive democratic election. Ghana
appeared to have durably consolidated a transition to democratic rule that began in 1992, when
the then-military leader, Jerry Rawlings, retired from the military to run as a civilian presidential
candidate in multiparty elections. Rawlings had first come to power in a 1979 military coup, after
which elections were held. He led a second military coup in 1981, establishing a populist, reform-
oriented ruling civil-military entity, the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC). The
PNDC coup followed 15 years of coups d’état and a string of military-dominated, often corrupt
governments that ruled after the military ousted Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first elected Prime
Minister, in 1966. He was toppled shortly after he transformed Ghana into a one-party state.
Nkrumah, famous advocate of African unity and socialism, led Ghana to independence from
Britain in 1957. Ghana celebrated its 50th year of independence in 2007.
Kufuor’s first-term agenda emphasized efforts to bolster national unity and social equity after the
2000 election; to fight reportedly widespread corruption; to reassert the rule of law; and to revive
a flagging economy. Upon taking office, he faced diverse poor economic indicators: flat growth;
currency deflation; poor or declining prices for key commodity exports (gold and cocoa); high
inflation, interest, and unemployment; and dependence on foreign aid. Kufuor vowed to tackle
these problems aggressively, but faced a roughly evenly party-divided legislature and a NDC-
dominated bureaucracy. He met these challenges by taking steps to privatize state firms, diversify
the economy, increase Ghana’s world market access, and pursue politically difficult fiscal
austerity policies. Ghana continues to face multiple economic challenges, but the Kufuor
administration has achieved many of its initial goals, including substantial utility deregulation, an
increase in hard currency reserves, and high economic growth rates.
Economy
Ghana’s export earnings have grown in recent years; they stood at about $5.2 billion in 2008, are
estimated at $5.7 billion in 2009, and are projected to rise to $5.9 billion in 2010.25 In June 2007,
the discovery of offshore light crude oil reserves conservatively estimated in the 450-550 million
barrel range, has boosted future export earning prospects. The economy grew at an estimated
annual rate of 7.3% in 2008 but fell to 4.7% in 2009, according to the Economist Intelligence
Unit, which forecasts a slightly higher rate of growth of 5.4% in 2010. Inflation, which had been
around 10% in 2008, low by historical standards, rose to an estimated 16.8% in 2009, but is
expected to decline to around 11% in 2010.26 Domestic savings rates are rising, and a large influx
23 CIA 2008 World Factbook, among other sources.
24 Interparliamentary Union data.
25 Economist Intelligence Unit [EIU], Ghana Country Report, June 2009
26 Ibid; and past EIU data.
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of expatriate remittances has boosted growth, notably in construction. The small Ghana Stock
Exchange has boomed in recent years, and in 2003 Ghana received its first sovereign credit
rating, which has since been upgraded. In September 2007, it successfully and for the first time
raised $750 million in international Eurobond issues. Ghana largely successfully fulfilled its
World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy
(GPRS). In part due to this, Ghana has received debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. This is leading to additional
international financial institution assistance, and has resulted in a series of actual or planned debt
write-offs by bilateral creditors totaling about $3.5 billion. The World Bank’s 2006/07 Doing
Business report ranked Ghana third among 10 global “Top Reformers” based on gains in public
service provision, contract mediation, import operations, and reductions in red tape for property
and business start-ups.
Social indicators have steadily improved. Ghana reportedly may become the first African country
to surpass the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015. Rising
commodity prices, notably of key exports like cocoa and gold, as well as growth in tourism, have
played a major role in economic growth. The Kufuor administration also attributed Ghana’s
recent economic successes to fiscal discipline, improved revenue collection, and to the
government’s policy agenda. It emphasized liberal, private sector-focused economic reform goals
and efforts to promote good governance and improve living standards. The Kufuor government
also reportedly boosted investment in education, healthcare delivery, communications, and
infrastructure. The latter is fairly developed by regional standards but in many cases is aging or
inadequate to meet future demands. The Kufuor government also sought to address possible
socio-economic and regulatory challenges arising from a forecast rise in oil earnings. The Kufuor
Administration established a state task force to study ways to ensure that such funds are used for
socially equitable economic diversification projects and to develop the nascent oil sector. The
Kufuor Administration also planned to create a national stabilization fund to minimize economic
growth shocks and revenue volatility associated with its dependence on cocoa, gold, timber and
oil exports. Oil management and transparency issues and policy challenges are discussed in detail
in a recent report by Oxfam America and the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC), a
Ghanaian policy institute.27
Economic and Related Policy Prospects
Despite much economic success, poverty remains widespread, notably among the rural majority.
From 1997-2003, 40% of Ghanaians lived below the poverty line. Joblessness also remains high.
Poverty rates are slowly declining, however, and the average annual income of $590 in 2007 has
grown markedly from the 2003 level of $300. The economy remains highly rural and agricultural,
even though about 47% of the population is urban, which is high by regional standards.
Agriculture employs about 60% of workers, and contributes about 37% of annual gross domestic
product (GDP). Services, notably the information technology and financial sectors, have
expanded rapidly and are eclipsing agriculture; they contribute an estimated 37-40% of GDP.
27 See Oxfam America and the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC-Ghana), Ghana's Big Test: Oil's
Challenge to Democratic Development, February 2009. See also commentary published by the Center for Global
Development (CGD) Todd Moss, "Obama Right to Highlight Ghana’s Success, But Will Oil Be the Spoiler?," CGD,
July 6, 2009.
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Ghana has established a small offshore call and information processing industry, and several new
banks have been created. Industry, notably the gold mining sector, has also grown substantially; it
provides nearly 25% of annual GDP. The government supports the extensive small-scale and
informal sectors through the use of micro-loans and small business-friendly policies. A key
challenge is an insufficient electricity supply. The Kufuor government pursued several national
and international regional power generation or distribution projects and efforts to liberalize the
electricity sector. One regional effort, the U.S.-backed West African Gas Pipeline, which is slated
to bring natural gas from Nigeria to Ghana and it eastern neighbors, had faced repeated delays,
but came online in mid-December 2007.28 Other key economic challenges include low wages and
productivity rates, and high oil and food prices. Floods in 2007 also devastated northern towns
and farms.
Transparency and accountability were key goals of the Kufuor administration, as they are for that
of President Mills. The Kufuor administration backed passage of several anti-corruption and
public sector transparency laws, made Ghana a participant in the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI, an international revenue transparency effort), and signed and
ratified the African Union convention on corruption, among other actions. Corruption,
nevertheless, has remained a problem. Public sector bribery is reportedly common, and there have
been several high profile corruption cases involving top officials. Some critics contend that anti-
corruption law enforcement is often weak. Notwithstanding the Kufuor government’s private
sector orientation and diverse achievements, the State Department’s FY2008 Congressional
Budget Justification, mirroring the views of some other observers, stated that Ghana “remains a
difficult place to do business; contract sanctity, clear land title, and expeditious licensing regimes
present daunting challenges. Schools are inadequate, and quality health care is unavailable for
many, particularly, for the poor and the disenfranchised.”
International Relations
Ghana’s government has actively mediated in crises in Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo. Some
observers believe that its close relations with the late Gnassingbe Eyadema, former president of
Togo, may have caused it to take a moderate stance vis-à-vis Togo’s 2005 leadership succession
and electoral crisis, which led about 12,000 Togolese to enter Ghana as refugees. Some human
rights advocates also criticized Ghana’s decision to facilitate the return of Charles Taylor, former
president of Liberia, to his country from peace talks in 2003 in Ghana after he was indicted for
war crimes by the U.S.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.29 Ghana contributes a
considerable number of troops to international peacekeeping operations, notably within Africa. It
is seen as having an increasingly professional military, following decades of military intervention
in state politics. Ghana is also active in helping to develop African peacekeeping capacities; it
hosts a regional peacekeeping training center. The United States has provided training and
equipment to the center. Ghana was elected to chair the African Union in 2007 and hosted the 9th
African Union Summit in July 2007. It also served as a U.N. Security Council member, 2006-
28 West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), “First Gas Reaches Ghana,” December 11, 2008; Kwasi Kpodo,
“Ghana pipeline gets first Nigerian gas,” Reuters via Thomson Financial News/Forbes, December 13, 2008; and Bank
Information Center, “Update: West African Gas Pipeline comes online at last,” December 18, 2008.
29 Human Rights Watch, “Liberian President Must Be Arrested,” June 4, 2003.
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2007. Like many African countries, Ghana is pursuing greater economic cooperation and trade
ties with China, and has increased its exports to China, notably manganese and cocoa.
U.S. Relations
U.S.-Ghanaian relations are close ― as discussed in the Overview and Current Developments of
this report ― and a small population of Americans, many of African-American descent, has
settled permanently in Ghana. The Obama Administration regards Ghana as “a stable and
democratic country” and as among the “most trusted partners” of the United States in Africa,” a
sentiment that reflects broad continuity with the Bush Administration’s view of Ghana.30 In part,
this strong partnership is due to the Obama Administration’s view of Ghana’s status as “a leader
in promoting peaceful conflict resolution in Africa” and as a major troop contributor to
international peacekeeping missions.31 Ghana is a leading African buyer of U.S. goods, but
bilateral trade, while growing, is relatively small. In 2008, U.S. exports to Ghana totaled
$609million, up from $416 million in 2007 and a $314 million average in 2005 and 2006. U.S.
imports from Ghana stood at $222 million in 2008, up from $199 million in 2007 and an average
of $175 million in 2005 and 2006. They have grown steadily, from $115 million in 2002. Ghana
is eligible for all trade benefits under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and
in mid-2007 hosted the 6th AGOA Forum.
Bilateral Assistance
While the Obama Administration views Ghana positively, it also sees it as facing a number of
substantial development and other challenges. According to the State Department’s FY 2010
Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, Ghana
faces numerous challenges, including weak institutions, over-centralization of authority,
corruption, and a growing narcotics trafficking problem. In addition, the Ghanaian health
system is struggling, while Ghanaians suffer from a heavy burden of disease, especially
malaria. In the past decade, there has been no improvement in maternal and infant morality
rates. HIV infects almost 20,000 people each year. Access to education has improved, but
quality remains poor and only about a quarter of primary school students can read at grade
level.
U.S. assistance is targeted at helping Ghana to address these challenges.32
30 State Department, Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations [CBJ], FY2010; and White House,
Statement by the Press Secretary on Upcoming Travel…. In its FY2008 CBJ, for instance, the Bush Administration
labeled Ghana “a key African partner” due to its role in promoting international security; its development of a “vibrant
and stable” democracy; and its role as a key African market-oriented U.S. trading partner.
31 CBJ, FY2010.
32 The following bilateral assistance section draws from recent annual Congressional Budget Justifications (CBJ) for
Foreign Operations and current and past USAID sectoral assistance fact sheets, among other sources. References to the
Obama Administration’s plans refer to and are drawn from the FY2010 CBJ entry for Ghana. Unless otherwise noted,
all direct quotations within the assistance section are from the FY 2010 CBJ.
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Governance
Recent U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-administered democratization
assistance to Ghana has supported decentralization efforts and greater citizen participation in
governance, notably at the local and regional level; improved parliamentary law-making and
oversight skills; better local government service capacity; and efforts to build civil society
capacities to influence government policy making. It has also supported anti-corruption reform, in
particular efforts to strengthen public official assets declaration requirements, bolster public
support for the creation of public official conflict of interest guidelines, and to expand
information sharing among accountability institutions.33
U.S. assistance helped ensure that the 2008 election was transparent and successful. A USAID-
funded project implemented by the National Democratic Institute in partnership with the Ghana
Center for Democratic Development (CDD) helped train election observers prior to the 2008
elections. The resulting Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) played a key role in
ensuring transparency and public confidence in the 2008 pre-election and election polling
processes.34 CODEO issued a series of assessments of the pre-election environment, conditions
during polling, and carried out a statistically significant parallel sample vote tabulation based on
actual polling data that very accurately predicted the election outcome and helped to assure the
public that the polling results were legitimate and accurate.35
U.S. assistance planned by the Obama Administration in FY 2010 calls for USAID to provide
direct technical assistance to continue fiscal decentralization and strengthening of local
government skills to enable them to more effectively and transparently plan, budget, implement,
and monitor programs. In addition it is to support local development-focused engagement
between local government entities and citizen advocacy groups regarding local priorities and
strategies for achieving them. U.S. assistance is also slated to support governance and
institutional capacity building pertaining to such policy and program areas as health, education,
water access, and economic growth. In part, this aid is aimed at bolstering the general ability of
state institutions to effectively and responsibly manage public resources prior to the anticipated
large increases in oil revenues in coming years.
Investing in People
Recent U.S. USAID-administered health sector assistance to Ghana focuses on preventing
HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; increasing health services delivery, particularly focused on
maternal health and child survival and malnutrition; and improving state healthcare planning,
management, and accountability capabilities. Ghana became a President’s Malaria Initiative
(PMI) country in FY2008. The Obama Administration’s FY 2010 CBJ assistance plan for Ghana
calls for continued USAID support in these areas, particularly with respect to preventive and
other health services, including increased access to voluntary family planning methods, at the
33 USAID, Governing Justly and Democratically, Activity Brief, May 2009; and FY 2008 and FY 2009 CBJs.
34 Observers came from representatives of the 34 “independent, non-partisan civil society organizations” that make up
the federation. See CODEO, “About CODEO,” http://www.codeogh.org.
35 A finding that was reflected by international observers; see, for instance, European Union Election Observation
Mission, Ghana: Presidential and Parliamentary Elections 2008, Final Report, February 2009.
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community and district-level; a Ghana Ministry of Health plan to promote results-based
management and performance-based financing in the health sector.
It also calls for infrastructure development, behavior change communication related to water and
sanitation access and use, and development of local government and civil society organizations to
manage such infrastructure. PMI assistance is slated to focus on scaling up “proven preventive
and treatment interventions to achieve of 85% coverage among vulnerable groups in order to
reach the PMI goal of reducing malaria-related morbidity by 50%,” particularly centering on
increasing access to insecticide-treated bed-nets. The Obama Administration also plans to provide
Ghana with substantial support under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
focused on strengthening integrated HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs across
Ghana and supporting orphans and vulnerable children. U.S. Basic Education assistance is slated
to support efforts to improve early grade competencies, e.g. “literacy, numeracy, arithmetic, and
basic personal finance, basic scientific concepts, general health, including awareness of malaria
and HIV/AIDS.” U.S. assistance will also focus on improving teacher training, “dramatically
increasing” access to learning materials, and monitoring and evaluating progress of the programs
using empirical and quantifiable metrics.
Economic Growth
Recent USAID Development Assistance program activity has focused on boosting agricultural
marketing and export potential, small business capacity building, and market liberalization
reforms. It has also supported policy reforms aimed at supporting macro-economic stability,
liberalizing agricultural input markets, and supporting policy-making capacities related to
finance, labor and land regulation, energy, natural resource management, and information and
communication technology. FY 2010 Development Assistance planned by the Obama
Administration is intended to continue to support many of these objectives, but will in particular
focus on objectives set out in various Ghanaian government sectoral plans and programs (e.g.,
those focusing on trade, the financial sector, and the food and agricultural sectors).
In particular, U.S. assistance will seek to strengthen Ghanaian government policy-making aimed
at boosting private sector performance and will also help small-and medium-sized agricultural
businesses meet regulatory and market-based standards and attract foreign investors. USAID is
also designing a new Agriculture Trade and Investment program intended to scale up prior
USAID programs to help increase commercial relations between producer organizations and
buyers and expand assistance targeting small-holder farmers, particularly with respect to high-
value horticulture crops. U.S. assistance will also help Ghana to achieve food security by
boosting market-based production, processing, transport and marketing and trade of staple foods,
e.g., maize, cassava and soybeans, and improving the balance between food supplies and
demands within the entire sub-regional of which Ghana is a part. In part, this end will be pursued
through diverse competitiveness, credit access, transport, trade capacity building programs and
business policy reforms under the U.S. Global Food Security Response (GFSR) program. GFSR
seeks to rapidly improve access to and production and distribution of staple foods.36 Ghanaians
also benefit from trade and export-related technical assistance under the regional USAID African
36 USAID, Status of the Global Food Security Response in West Africa and Ghana, May 2009.
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Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI). A sub-regional AGCI Trade Hub is located in Ghana.
It provides trade, investment, and business information and technical assistance to African and
U.S. public and private sector business, trade, and policy entities.37
Peace, Security, and Counternarcotics
Limited Foreign Military Financing, International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, and
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, and Demining and Related Project funds support peace and
security and law enforcement capacity-building.38 Military and police assistance centers on
helping Ghana to counter its growing use as a key cocaine transshipment point in the region, in
large part by increasing its ability to control its borders and key entry and trade points, in part to
ensure that “Ghana does not serve as a base or transit point for illicit shipments of people, goods,
and narcotics to the United States.”
In addition to capacity building assistance administered by the State Department’s Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), U.S. counternarcotics assistance to
Ghana is being pursued by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). DEA recently set up a
country office in Ghana, and is in the process of vetting a Ghanaian police unit, whose members
will then be trained by the DEA and for purposes of increasing Ghanaian counternarcotics
interdiction capabilities and engaging in bilateral law enforcement operations with the DEA. In
early 2009, a Colombian organized crime figure was extradited to the United States to face U.S.
drug charges under the aegis of Ghanaian-DEA cooperation that involved use of DEA’s
extraterritorial authority, which facilitates U.S. prosecution of certain crimes committed
overseas.39
A modest International Military Education and Training (IMET) program supports military
professionalism. Ghana was among the first recipients of peacekeeper training under the African
Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program, a component of the State Department'
Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). In FY 2010, GPOI is slated to continue to help train
and equip Ghanaian forces deployed to international peace support operations, which has become
a routine activity for Ghana. In FY 2010, U.S. assistance will also “support Ghana in meeting its
military pledges to the Economic Community of West African States Standby Force and
international peacekeeping missions.” The Department of Defense (DoD) has also provided
Automated Identification System (AIS, a ship identifying system) equipment and fast patrol boats
to Ghana. DoD has also engaged the Ghanaian military and civilian groups through its Africa
Partnership Station, a DOD-sponsored effort to improve maritime security in West Africa that
includes participation from U.S. civilian agencies and non-governmental actors. Ghana also acts
as a base for periodic regional U.S military activities, such as crisis response actions or exercises.
It also participates in the National Guard State Partnership Program, which links U.S. states
37 See USAID, African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI), http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-
saharan_africa/initiatives/agci.html .
38 Funding for these purposes comprised an average total of 1.4% of all State Department and USAID funding for
Ghana between FY 2008 and projected FY 2010 funding.
39 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Confronting Drug Trafficking in West Africa, 111th Cong.,
1st sess., June 23, 2009.
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(North Dakota in the case of Ghana) with partner nations in support of U.S security cooperation
and broad bilateral goals.
Other Bilateral Assistance and Cooperation
A 171-member U.S. Peace Corps volunteer program pursues diverse projects, mostly in
education, small business growth, environmental sustainability, and healthcare. After widespread
flood damage in northern Ghana in September 2007, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster
Assistance provided $50,000 in emergency relief supplies to 5,000 recipients. The Treasury
Department has also provided technical assistance to Ghana to help it issue Eurobonds.
Millennium Challenge Corporation
In August 2006, Ghana signed a $547 million, five-year MCC Compact. It supports investments
in agriculture, production, business, and income growth (e.g., increasing exports and value-added
business capacity, and improving irrigation and land tenure systems); in transportation; and
programs to support rural government, social, and financial services. The MCC-Ghana
partnership is intended to support the role of sound and institutionalized good governance and
strong civil society engagement in sustainable development. Examples of current and recently
completed achievements include the rehabilitation of 30 schools, and the on-going construction of
35 more, along with procurement to construct dozens more. In addition, Wide Area Network
equipment aimed at automating and linking the payment systems of over 120 rural banks is
currently being procured. Preparatory work on upgrading of the key N-1 Highway, which
connects Ghana’s major port to agricultural areas, is also on-going. Initial Farmer Based
Organization (FBO) business plan development and crop productivity training has also been
completed. Seven pineapple farms have also received pre-coolers and the design of a cold chain
facility at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport is being negotiated.40
State Department and USAID Assistance Summary
Under the Administration’s FY2010 budget request, core assistance to Ghana (exclusive of MCC,
Peace Corps, and Defense Department assistance and food aid) would increase from the FY 2009
level of $115.4 million to $143.4 million. The level of such assistance in FY2008 totaled $80.9
million. Food aid in FY2009 totaled $4.5 million, and an estimated $6.9 million in FY2008. The
Administration did not request food aid specifically for Ghana in FY2010. Food aid may be
allocated to Ghana in FY 2010, however, and may rise in FY 2009, as food aid is allocated from
central accounts in response to need throughout the year.
40 Ghana Compact documents online at http://www.mcc.gov; MCC, Ghana and MCC: An Innovative Partnership
Delivering on America's Promise to Africa, June 5, 2009; and MCC, Compact Implementation Status Report, April-
June 2009, inter alia.
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Table 1. Bilateral State Department and USAID Assistance to Ghana,
FY2008 to FY2010
($ millions)
FY 2008 Actual
FY 2009
FY 2010
Estimate
Request
Development
Assistance
25.4 59.5 71.1
Foreign
Military
Financing
0.3 0.3 0.5
Global Health and Child
12.0 11.5 11.5
Survival-State
Global Health and Child
35.1 38.5 59.0
Survival-USAID
International Military Education
0.6 0.6 0.9
and Training
International Narcotics Control 0.5 0.5 0.5
and Law Enforcement
Nonproliferation,
0.1 - -
Antiterrorism, Demining and
Related Programs
Public Law 480 (Food Aid)
6.9
4.5
-
Total 80.9
115.4
143.4
Source: State Department, Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, FY 2010
Author Contact Information
Nicolas Cook
Specialist in African Affairs
ncook@crs.loc.gov, 7-0429
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