NEWS JUNKIE POST
Jul 10, 2009 at 3:08 amObama Visits Ghana
By Gilbert Mercier, NEWS JUNKIE POST
Today, President Obama will wrap up his trip by a visit to Ghana. This marks the President’s first visit to Sub-Saharan Africa since elected as US President.
On July 2, before leaving Washington for his trip, President Obama gave an interview to AllAfrica.com — one of the biggest online news sources for the continent.
When asked by All Africa, about the reason why Ghana was the country picked by the President to have the honor of his first visit, as opposed to Kenya the country of his father, the President highlighted the fact that Ghana had undergone a few successful elections in which power was transferred peacefully.
And when asked by All Africa if he had priority for Africa, President Obama said that he thought the entire continent was important.
President Obama added: “I actually thought that it made sense for us to connect a trip to Ghana to a previous trip with the G8. We will be meeting a number of African countries in Italy during the G8 summit to show that Africa is directly connected to our entire foreign policy approach.”
During his trip to Ghana, President Obama will pay tribute to a tragic chapter of African history: The slave trade. Ghana was one of the biggest centers for the slave trade. The President and Michelle Obama will visit the horrific site were slaves were held before their nightmarish trans-Atlantic journey.
In his interview with All Africa.com, when asked if he would like to see more country like Ghana in Africa, the US President replied: “Absolutely.”
In the first instance, this is his second visit to Africa unless we do not consider Egypt as an African country. If you say this is his first visit to WEST Africa, that might be more apt but i do not know why that should be such a big deal and make the news? I really do not get all this debate about his choice to go to Ghana and not Kenya, this is a state visit not a personal visit and it is about time anyway that western governments stop endorsing excruciatingly corrupt regimes.
I mentioned in my article that it is President Obama’s first visit to SUB-SAHARAN Africa. The big deal is that Obama took the time before his trip to give an exclusive interview to All Africa.com ( see the link & read the interview). Ghana was picked (also see article) because it is an exception in Africa. They had an election recently, the party in power lost but still respected the will of the people and gave up power. This alone is remarkable in Africa.
So, Obama chose Ghana instead of Nigeria – and why shouldn’t he when Atta Mill’s Jan election was a historic milestone in African democratic stability. The US President’s Ghanaian choice is clear. Obama is committed to establishing a just society and wants to encourage Mills in his fight against the corruption so prevalent in Africa.
Obama’s visit should be a cause of joy in Africa and should deeply encourage our continent’s spiritual and moral leaders such as Prophet TB Joshua of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations, Lagos, Nigeria, the man who Atta Mills openly describes as his mentor. Joshua famously prophesied Atta Mill’s peaceful and surprising victory against the opposition in Jan 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzR1poV0r04
I’m so happy President Obama is visiting Ghana. I hope that will give him an opportunity to meet with the man behind the Ghana President’s victory in person of T.B. Joshua. I’m sure that will help us move forward on our economic crisis.