Trump has good plans for Africa – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has declared his willingness to support United States President Donald Trump on his ‘African Agenda’.

Contrary to the impression the US President has left on the minds of many Africans, president Akufo-Addo thinks the man has good plans for the continent for which he has pledged to support him (Trump) for the growth of trade and investment in Africa.

He made the observation urging an interaction with some members of the presidential press corps at the Flagstaff House in relation to his meeting with the US President on the sidelines of the just-ended United Nations (UN) General Assembly meeting in New York together with seven other colleague African presidents.

Pledging to support president Trump, Nana Akufo-Addo said, “I had the opportunity and privilege to meet the new US President, Donald Trump, and I believe this is the first time we hear him articulate an Africa policy…because he had not talked about Africa.

“The policy that emerged from our discussion was that he recognized the tremendous potential of Africa for the development of our economies and his attitude was that United States should be very engaged in promoting trade and investment in Africa and as it were, shifting from the aid mentality, culture, consciousness.”

President Akufo-Addo posited, “I welcome it because I myself feel that the aid culture and dependency has not served us particularly well and these are times for us to move away from it.”

Paradigm Shift

“So it was good to hear an American President say that now American policy had pivoted from focus on aid to focus on trade and investment because at the end of the day, it’s the most sustainable basis for long term economic engagement between countries when we are talking about trade and investment and not about aid,” the Ghanaian leader pointed out.

In August 2006, the United States government, through the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC), signed a five-year $547 million compact with the Ghanaian government to reduce poverty by raising farmers’ incomes through private sector-led agribusiness development and major public projects in the capital of Accra.

The compact consisted of a three-pronged series of investments in 30 districts across the country

The agriculture project was designed to enhance returns form staple food and horticulture crops produced by low-income smallholder farmers, as well as to support the expansion of higher-value commercial agriculture through improve delivery of business and technical services.

The transportation project was designed to reduce costs related to agricultural commerce at local and regional levels. And the rural development project was to strengthen rural institutions providing complementary and supportive services for agricultural and agribusiness development.

Expectation

But going forward, President Akufo-Addo maintain, “We are going to see to what extent the new programmes that the American government will put out in the weeks, months, years ahead to reflect this new focus of President Trump; we will see the programmes and initiatives that they are going to put out. We are ready on our part to participate and partner the United States if this is the focus of American policy and leadership.

He averred, “I was reassured by his emphasis on the importance of democracy, a vehicle for promoting human happiness, respect for freedoms and respect for the rule of law and that emphasis is one that accords very much with what we have been trying in the period of the Fourth Republic to do here in Ghana.”