Why Did President Obama Choose Ghana as His Africa Destination?

The press has barely been able to contain their excitement over President Obama's trip to Africa. Their glee is understandable. America's first black president is returning to the land in which his ancestors were born. The story is beautiful -- poetic, really. But what few people are asking is, "Why Ghana?"

One of the few news sources to pose this question, Democracy Now, proposed the answer may have something to do with the recent discovery of oil in Ghana. A quarter of US oil imports are expected to come from West Africa by 2015, according to estimates by the National Intelligence Council. That could explain why Obama chose Ghana over, say, his father's homeland of Kenya.

Perhaps aware of the "oil" question, the White House was quick to announce that Ghana was selected as Obama's destination because the African country is a "trusted partner" and praised its sound governance and lasting development. Kwesi Pratt, editor of The Insight, a newspaper based in Accra, Ghana, doesn't buy that excuse.

The official reason has been given of Ghana's fledgling democracy, that the United States of America has a lot of confidence in Ghana's fledgling democracy. But all of us know that the main interest is oil. If you read the Cheney report, the Cheney report states very clearly that by 2015 American oil imports will move from 11% to 25%. The Cheney report also makes a recommendation for the establishment of military bases in order to protect American interests and American oil. For me these are the two key reasons why the United States and Obama are interested in this. It has nothing to do with democracy, but the preservation of American interests.

Pratt is referring to former Vice-President Dick Cheney's role in the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG), a task force of senior government representatives charged with developing a long-range plan to meet U.S. energy requirements. Former President Bush chose Cheney to head NEPDG, and one of Dick's main goals was to minimize the United States' dependency on oil from the Persian Gulf. Of course, NEPDG didn't want to supplement oil for "green energy." The group just wanted to find oil somewhere else, and "somewhere" included non-gulf areas, including the Caspian Sea basin, the West Coast of Africa, and Latin America.

Ghana is located near the Africa west coast. "West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sources of oil and gas for the American market," the Cheney report observed with almost tangible, gluttonous glee. At the time, the report focused on Nigeria, Guinea, and Angola because Dick Cheney and George W. Bush had no idea Ghana had a massive oil reserve just off her coast.

Then in 2007, the UK firm Tullow Oil announced the discovery of 600 million barrels of light oil offshore from Ghana. Reporter Njei Moses Timah stated the obvious, "China and the United States are not going to fold their arms and allow Ghana to quietly enjoy the proceeds of the over $40 billion worth of oil (less exploration and production costs) that has been discovered."

"U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Ghana on July 10th-11th is a subtle White House oil strategy to secure another source of energy on the continent of Africa," says Patrick Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Star Resources Corp. in an interview with AlphaTrade Finance.

Gold Star Resources is a Vancouver-based company seeking high-impact 'onshore' oil and gas opportunities in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana in West Africa. The company recently announced its acquisition of International Resources Strategies Liberia Energy Inc. (IRSLE). Gold Star also announced that it signed a Letter-of-Intent with Bengal Bight Ghana to acquire 100% of the hydrocarbon rights to the Tampoum mining concession, approximately 1,000 square km, in Cote d'Ivoire.

Morris adds, "The U.S. Department of Energy has already confirmed that the United States will be importing over 770 million barrels of African oil annually by the year 2020. The U.S. National Intelligence Council is projecting that 25 percent of U.S. oil imports will come from West Africa by 2015 compared to 15% today. My own professional experience tells me that the political stability of Ghana's government, a credible democratic political party system, and a positive investment environment all favor closer ties to Ghanaians by the Obama White House."

The United States and China have a history of raping Africa for her natural resources, and investing nothing into local African communities themselves. Serge Michel, West Africa correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde, told Democracy Now that -- in classic colonialist fashion -- China extracts Africa's natural resourses without contributing anything to the native people, say by building infrastructure like roads. The United States traditionally follows a similar pattern of conquer and pillage.

There is no reason to doubt Ghana will face a similar fate this time.

Cross-posted from Allison Kilkenny's blog. Also available on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Follow Allison Kilkenny on Twitter: www.twitter.com/allisonkilkenny

Comments

[ReedYoung]

I *hope* you're wrong and U.S. petroleum interests will be pursued ethically for a *change* but it's always better to be alert. It truly would be naïve to assume that human rights won't be violated by texaco, exxon, or whatever petroleum corporation gets an agreement signed with the government of Ghana first.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/05/ecuadorians-sue-chevron-f_n_196157.html
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13407

[raggamuffin10]

I am a Nigerian and have visited Ghana on a few occassions. Ghana has become for some of us a country other democracies in Africa should emulate. The relative calm and development is something i believe other countries should emulate. Ghana which Nigeria did not reckon with a few years ago has become a country that Nigerians want to live in and a lot of foreign investments have left our country and moved to Ghana, because they have a stable democracy and most of all electricity which has eluded us in Nigeria. I can understand why Obama chose to go to Ghana.

[Nudalhade]

Ghana doesn't need the oil-- it's a third-world country. However, we do. We can't let Ghana turn into another Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo or Kenya. Ghana needs our protection, that's why Obama is taking notice and opening relations.

[stell]

What? That sounds like Manifest Destiny my friend. According to that logic China and India don't need the oil either. What you don't know about Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo, or Kenya could fill the Staples Center. This country supports at least 10 dictatorships in Africa right now. I'll list 11 here: Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland, Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Rwanda, Gabon, Egypt, and Tunisia.

[generationyes]

Here's an idea: why don't you ask him?

[stonerscum2]

Yeah because President Obama has such a history of following Cheney's lead! Come on! If America has some oil interests in West Africa in 2015 so what? No one has ever suggested that we would be totally off oil by the end of the coming decade, or even totally off oil decades from now, its going to take time. What Obama is planning to do is ramp up the production of renewables and diversify or existing supplies of energy. That doesn't mean we have to exploit anybody, in fact its in our interests for a stable West Africa it makes it easier and means all sorts of companies can make money there while helping the region. Yes some companies will exploit the people but that can be overcome....

[Weirdwriter]

It has also been noted by other bloggers and journalists that Kenya is currently in chaos, and Ghana has the fabled, sinister jumping-off point for so much of the slave trade out of Africa.

[SpiralDenial]

Cynical speculation posing as journalism. You might want to indulge in less opinion and more facts to support the point you so obviously want to make.

[CanHandleTheTruth]

Spiral, you're in abject Denial. Miss her article's citations, did you? Google "Africa" and "Oil" for further info.

Also, try watching this brilliantly, thorough BBC documentary for further clarity on the matter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHpsxBi_Ms0

[incognito-ergo-sum]

Great article, love to see our President spending time developing ties with Africa instead of Saudi Arabia et al.

[artgurrl]

The more things change the more they stay the same.

[bilmardre]

We'll see. If Obama does try to exploit Ghana for it's resources through force or otherwise, he will be just as despised as Bush.

But is sounded to me like he is interested in helping develop Africa. It will be interesting to see how much support he gets in that regard.

[stell]

Yeah, developing military bases.

[stimaque]

To gamoonbat. Check your facts before making comments. Kwesi Pratt has never stood for president of Ghana. He has the record of supporting opposition parties and has twice done that, first for the NPP to topple the NDC and vice versa now. Nonetheless, Kwesi Pratt is a socialist and is biased towards socialism majority of the times. He tends to support several conspiracy theories such as the one in this story. Ghana is a shining example of democracy and a beacon of hope in Africa. There is no doubt this is the major reason why President Obama chose to visit.

[Beelzebufo]

So, Obama is looking out for our interests-- as we pay him to do.

[stell]

Your interests? LOL. I guess it depends who OUR is.

[banja]

Very Cynical take

[CanHandleTheTruth]

Not as cynical as the Pentagon's.

P.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHpsxBi_Ms0

[gamoonbat]

I take Barack Obama at his word on the motivation for choosing Ghana, particularly because Nigeria would have been the logical choice if the motivation were purely economic. I was disappointed in Obama's attempted defense of AFRICOM, which is indeed a relic of the previous administration's neocolonialist approach. Kwesi Pratt does not strike me as a credible journalist, having stood for president in the recent election and actively participated in partisan politics for decades.

[stell]

I generally respect your writing Ms. Kilkenny, but I disagree that China has the same history of raping Africa as the West. Africa is best suited using China as a counter-weight to Western corporate interests. Africans know what China wants and China knows what Africa wants. It's a symbiotic relationship. The West's relations with Africa have been steeped in racism.

Read this article for example:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9707

[stell]

Another good article about Zimbabwe and land reform:

http://www.counterpunch.org/elich05072005.html

[TLaw]

I couldn't agree more! and thanks for the articles..