Overview: Ghana and the United States

U.S.-Ghanaian relations are warm, as signaled by President Barack Obama travel to Ghana from July 10 to 11, 2009 (see " President Obama's Trip to Ghana "). His trip followed 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. It is seen as a model for many of the outcomes that U.S. development assistance programs in Africa have sought to achieve over multiple Congresses and presidential administrations. It is also a stable country in an often volatile sub-region and, along with the United States, has helped to mediate several political and/or military conflicts in West Africa over the last quarter century. These conflicts have caused widespread displacement and humanitarian suffering, which the United States has repeatedly sought to mitigate through the provision of often large amounts of humanitarian assistance. Ghana is also praised for its steady contribution of troops to international peacekeeping operations in Africa and elsewhere and is a recipient of U.S. training aimed at supporting such deployments. Ghana has also drawn attention because of its recent discovery of sizable reserves of crude oil, and its possible role in contributing to global and U.S. energy security. Its reserves promises to boost Ghana's 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 illicit narcotics trafficking, notably with respect to a rise in recent years of cocaine being transported from South America to Europe via West Africa. Shared interest in countering such trafficking is a growing area of U.S.-Ghanaian cooperation. The elections had drawn widespread international attention because they marked Ghana's fifth consecutive democratic national election, preceded its second democratic transfer of power from one political party to another and, at the presidential level, were reportedly among the closest ever in post-colonial Africa. The resulting transfer of state power from one political party to another, a historically uncommon 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, and provided a sharp contrast to recent counter-democratic developments in Africa. It was cast as the last of a four-part thematic series of major overseas speeches laying out some of President Obama's key foreign policy views. The speech centered on the integral relationship between democracy, good governance, and development in Africa and in the wider developing world. Oil Sector Issues and Controversies

Development of Jubilee has been controversial and has at times threatened to become an impediment in U.S.-Ghanaian relations, primarily in relation to the nature of Kosmos Energy's entry into the Ghanaian oil sector, and in relation to efforts by the U.S.-owned firm to sell its stake in Jubilee. In January 2009, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) opened a permanent regional cooperation office in Ghana. Ghana became a President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) country in FY2008. FY2011 Development Assistance plans call for a major emphasis on increasing agricultural productivity and utility, in large part under a new development effort called the Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative (GHFSI). On the DEA's role and other U.S. efforts to help counter drug trafficking in Ghana, see Illicit Drugs" section, above.
This report provides information on current developments in Ghana and Ghanaian-U.S. relations, which are close. Warm bilateral relations were signaled by President Barack Obama's July 2009 trip to Ghana. Ghana was chosen for his first travel as president to Africa because of its democratic and economic development successes. In Ghana, President Obama made the last of a four-part thematic series of major overseas speeches on key foreign policy issues. The speech in Ghana, to the national parliament, centered on the integral relationship between democracy, good governance, and development in Africa and in the wider developing world. Close ties were also signaled by a trip to Ghana by former President George W. Bush in 2008. While Ghana has not been the focal subject of recent U.S. legislation, hearings, or other major Congressional actions it regularly hosts travel by Members and is widely seen as a key U.S. partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana's national elections in late 2008 drew international attention because they marked Ghana's fifth consecutive democratic national election, preceded its second democratic transfer of power from one political party to another and, at the presidential level, were reportedly among the closest ever in post-colonial Africa. They signified Ghana's further maturation as a democracy following a transition from "no-party" rule that began in 1992, and were seen as a benchmark for democratic consolidation in Africa following a series of highly contested, volatile elections and other democratic setbacks on the sub-continent.
Ghana is also a stable country in an often volatile sub-region and, along with the United States, has helped to mediate several political and/or military conflicts in West Africa over the last quarter century. These conflicts have caused widespread displacement and humanitarian suffering, which the United States has helped to mitigate through the provision of large amounts of humanitarian assistance. Ghana is also praised for its steady contribution of troops to international peacekeeping operations in Africa and elsewhere and is a recipient of U.S. training aimed at supporting such deployments.
Ghana is often seen as a model for many of the outcomes that U.S. development assistance programs in Africa have long sought to achieve, and hosts bilateral and regional U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) missions. It is a recipient of U.S. assistance under the Obama Administration's new Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative (GHFSI) as well as a President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) country. In 2006, Ghana signed a $547 million U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact.
Ghana is currently drawing attention because of its recent discovery of sizable reserves of crude oil, and its possible role in contributing to global and U.S. energy security. Oil promises to boost national income and development prospects, but, based on the experience of other oil-rich developing countries, may also pose substantial good governance and resource management challenges, which Ghana is taking measures to address. Oil sector development has caused bilateral commercial friction, principally regarding an attempt by a U.S. oil firm, Kosmos Energy, to sell its stakes in two Ghanaian oil fields. Oil sector issues are discussed at length in this report.
Ghana, like the United States, faces an illicit drugs trafficking threat, notably relating to a rise in cocaine being transported from South America to Europe via West Africa. Shared interest in countering such trafficking is a growing area of U.S.-Ghanaian cooperation. The U.S. embassy in Accra hosts a DEA regional cooperation office, and has established a vetted counternarcotics unit, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, in cooperation with the DEA.