*Looks like Ghana is also mistaken about where Obama was born.
History Beckons - As Prez Obama Arrives Tomorrow
By Daily Graphic - Daily Graphic
General News | Thu, 09 Jul 2009
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Mr & Mrs Obama US President Barack Obama is expected to announce a major foreign policy for Africa during his historic two-day visit to Ghana, beginning Friday, July 10, 2009.
Although Mr Obama has made foreign policy pronouncements for some parts of the world since assuming office in January, this year, he is yet to make one for Africa, and his visit to the country, which the White House describes as “one of our most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa”, is expected to be used as a platform to unveil his foreign policy for Africa.
“It is expected that President Obama will make a major foreign policy statement on Africa”, Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, told the Daily Graphic.
For Ghana, Obama's visit will be a celebration of another milestone in African history as it hosts the first-ever African-American President on this presidential visit to the continent of his birth.
The Air Force One, carrying the 44th American President, his wife, Michelle and two daughters, as well as a retinue of senior US government officials, is expected to touch down at the Kotoka International Airport at 8:30p.m. tomorrow amid tight security by US and Ghanaian security agents.
A red carpet reception, spiced with rich Ghanaian cultural performance, awaits Mr Obama and his entourage at the Jubilee Lounge of the airport and that warm embrace will give him a foretaste of the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality that he will be served with during the period of his visit.
A host of White House correspondents and international journalists are expected to accompany the world’s most powerful personality; an ample signal that Ghana will come under global spotlight for the period of his stay in the country.
Ghana expects to take full advantage of the huge international exposure to boost its image, investment drive and tourist attractions, and rightly so, as the Foreign Minister has called on the international business community to take advantage of opportunities in the country to locate here.
Ahead of the visit, the National Security Council is co-ordinating a contingency security plan involving the various security agencies, but with the police as the key actors, to ensure success.
The Public Affairs Director of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kwesi Ofori, said the contingency plan involved traffic control, road blocks at short notice, increased police patrols and a full presence of the police at vantage locations.
In line with the security measures, people carrying bags and unwarranted objects are forbidden from going near venues where Obama would be visiting, while indiscriminate motorbike riding and indiscipline by motorists on the roads would not be tolerated.
The recent exercise to clear the central business district and other parts of Accra of street hawkers and traders gives a vivid posture of official intolerance to general indiscipline before and during the visit of Mr Obama.
DSP Ofori appealed to motorists and the general public to cooperate with the security agencies to ensure the success of the visit.
The Ghana trip is the final leg of a three-nation tour by the US President, having breezed through Russia and Italy, where he attended the G8 Summit.
This will be the third time a sitting American President is visiting Ghana, after two similar visits by President William Jefferson Clinton in March 1998 and President George Walker Bush Jnr in February 2008.
The eight-hour visit by Clinton was the shortest, but by no means very significant, given the fact that he was the first sitting US President to step foot in Ghana, and as he later indicated, it was the most memorable foreign trip he ever made as President.
With two nights sleep and 36 hours stay in Ghana, President Bush’s visit glows into huge significance as the longest of the three visits.
Spending one night and about 24 hours in Ghana, Mr Obama will not be spending as much time in the country as Bush did; he is also not the first of the three to visit, but undoubtedly, the significance and historic nature of his visit will dwarf those of Clinton and Bush.
Prior to the announcement of the Ghana trip, it was widely speculated that Mr Obama’s first visit to Africa will be to Kenya, the land of his paternal ancestors.
However, Ghana’s political pedigree as the first independent country in sub-Saharan Africa and kingpin of Africa’s liberation struggle, as well as its recent exemplary strides in democracy, political stability and good governance, might have been compelling credentials that made it a preferred destination for Mr Obama, instead of his own fatherland. Continued : modernghana.com |
