US VP Harris brings aid package to Ghana
US Vice President Kamala Harris met with Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday, arriving with a $139 million package of bilateral security, economic and development assistance as part of a three-nation African tour.
The trip to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia until April 2 follows a December summit hosted by President Joe Biden in Washington with leaders from Africa, where Washington hopes to balance the rising influence of China and Russia.
Akufo-Addo greeted Harris outside the Jubilee House presidential palace in the capital Accra before their bilateral meeting.
“We’re looking forward to using this visit of yours as a springboard to renew these relationships and expand them," the Ghanaian leader said.
Struggling with an economic crisis, burgeoning debt and inflation of over 50 percent, Ghana has agreed a $3 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ghana's finance minister returned this month from a trip to China, where the two governments discussed debt issues.
Ghana is one of the Gulf of Guinea nations, along with neighbours Benin and Togo, suffering from the fallout from jihadist violence over their northern borders in Burkina Faso.
Western partners are backing a regional military cooperation among West African coastal states as well as initiatives to help development and aid in vulnerable northern border regions.
In a statement earlier, Harris' office said the Biden administration would invest $100 million as part of a plan to help Ghana, Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast in stabilisation and countering the threat of jihadism.
New programmes aim to strengthen development and increase governance in northern border communities where local officials worry Islamist militants may try to gain influence.
"The plan is intended to address regional threats of violent extremism and instability in Coastal West Africa," it said.
Harris' office said the US would provide Ghana with $139 million in bilateral assistance next year, including for economic, business and culture initiatives, and for the health sector such as an anti-malaria programme.
Washington will send a special advisor to Ghana to help Akufo-Addo's government with its debt profile this year.
"The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance will deploy a full-time resident advisor in 2023, to Accra to assist the Ministry of Finance in developing and executing medium- to long term reforms," it said.
Other programmes will include small business development funds especially for women and youth, financing to help combat child labour in Ghana's cocoa industry and investments in weather and climate early warning systems.
Harris will meet entrepreneurs, students, women and farmers while in Ghana and will also visit the historic Cape Coast Castle where slaves were kept 400 years ago.
After Ghana, she will travel on Wednesday to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Harris' trip to Africa is the latest move in deepening US engagement with a continent largely ignored under Republican Donald Trump -- and long viewed in Washington as more of a problem area than an opportunity.
The tour is also part of Washington's pushback against growing Chinese and Russian involvement in Africa, with US officials promoting what they say is the more positive US message.