In Ghana, Kamala Harris ‘excited about the future of Africa’

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris was greeted by schoolchildren, dancers and drummers as she arrived Sunday in Ghana for the start of a weeklong visit to Africa intended to deepen U.S. relationships amid global competition over the continent’s future.

Harris stated,” We are looking forward to this adventure as a further announcement of the long and enduring very significant relationship and connection between the men of this continent and those who live in the United States.”

As she stepped off her helicopter after an over flight, the kids applauded and waved African and American colors. As she walked past the dancing, she grinned widely and put a finger on her heart.

What a privilege it is to be in Ghana and on the African globe, Harris remarked. ” I’m very optimistic about Africa’s outlook.” She stated that she welcomed the opportunity to” see firsthand the remarkable innovation and creativity that is occurring on this peninsula” in order to advance economic growth and food protection.

Ghana is one of the continent’s most stable democracies, but Harris is arriving at a time of severe challenges for the West African nation. Its economy, among the fastest growing in the world before the COVID-19 pandemic, faces a debt crisis and soaring inflation that is driving up the cost of food and other necessities.

Ghana, a nation of 34 million that is substantially smaller than Oregon, is also afraid of dangers posed by unrest in the area. Local sects of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate in the region known as the Sahel, which is northwest of Ghana. Burkina Faso and Mali have both recently experienced two dictatorships. Thousands more people have been displaced and dozens more have died.

The Russian soldier group Wagner, which maintains a position in Africa despite taking part in the invasion of Ukraine as well, has an opening thanks to the battle. Following the expulsion of French soldiers stationed there, Mali welcomed Wagner, and there are worries that Burkina Faso will follow suit.

When Harris meets with Nana Akufo-Addo, the leader of Ghana, on Monday, it’s likely that the financial and security issues will be discussed. A joint press conference is already anticipated to be held.

The two officials have previously met twice, both times in Washington.

Akufo-Addo stated at their first conference in September 2021 that” our big problem— and it is a problem of all those who want to create democratic institutions on our continent— is to maintain and convince our people that democracy institutions can be used to solve their big problem, which is economic development as the means to eliminate poverty on the continent.”

Harris is the most well-known supporter of President Joe Biden’s leadership to have traveled to Africa this summer. She intends to travel to Tanzania and Zambia after Ghana. On April 2, she travels back to Washington.

The expanded engagement aims to counter China’s change, which has grown stronger in recent years as a result of infrastructure projects, financial aid, and the expansion of telecommunications networks. For instance, Ghana and a Chinese company agreed to establish roads and other projects in exchange for access to an essential mineral used to make copper.

Younger people will be the center of the majority of Harris’ incidents in Ghana. The average age of the population in Africa is 19.

She intends to go to a skate park and co-working yard on Monday that also houses the recording workshop for neighborhood musicians. Along with attending a girls basketball office, her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is traveling with her, will host an audience meeting in the town hall with cast members from the neighborhood television program.

They may join the president and first princess of Ghana at a state dinner in the evening.

Harris likely deliver a speech on Tuesday and travel to Cape Coast Castle, where once-slaved Africans were loaded onto boats headed for the Americas.

Harris will connect with female business owners before departing for Tanzania on Wednesday, and Emhoff did trip a chocolate business that was started by two sisters. The business’s term,” 57 Chocolate,” alludes to the time when Ghana gained its independence.

Ghana has been” a bright spot in the region ,” according to Cameron Hudson, an Africa expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but” it’s facing some very stiff headwinds.”

He pointed out that there are concerns that militants could expand their operations in the country’s southern region, where the capital of Accra is situated, while the northern region is typically Muslim.

He claimed that” these terrorist organizations are able to feed on existing social problem creases.”

Hudson claimed that human traffickers and arms shipments have been stopped by African authorities. There are occasionally violent outbursts, and the number of occurrences increased next year.