Your reply to US Senator over Ghana’s debt to the US does not make sense—Franklin Cudjoe to Ablakwa
Franklin Cudjoe of the think tank IMANI Africa has lashed out at Ghana’s foreign affairs minister over his response to the United States of America senator who called on him to pay attention to the debts owed US companies.
He says the response does not make sense in the scheme of affairs, considering recent trade relations between the two countries.
Franklin Cudjoe who made this position known in a post shared via social media said “I do not understand our foreign minister’s response to a harmless suggestion by a US Senator that he pays attention to committing Ghana to paying debts owed American companies.
What has the minister’s references to colonial imperialism and reparations for the transatlantic slave trade got to do with paying debts in recent international trade transactions? After all the foreign minister was in DC holding talks with State Department folks on trade and Ghana’s relationship with the US?.
A simple answer from the foreign minister along the following lines would have sufficed..” Dear Senator Risch, while l disagree with your call on me to prioritise Ghana’s debt obligation to America, because according to you, ‘America subsidises” us, may l remind you that the debts you alluded to were contracted under the previous government. Most of these debts have to be verified as they may have had their sums inflated or contain dodgy legal clauses.”. And by the way, America has withdrawn its USAID support for Ghana. The close to $160m Ghana receives annually from the US will come no more, so really, you will not be subsidising Ghana”.
Background
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has issued a scathing response to U.S. Senator Jim Risch, following remarks the senator made criticizing Ghana’s foreign policy and its debt obligations to the United States.
Senator Risch, via the official Senate Foreign Relations Committee X (formerly Twitter) account, suggested that Ghana’s Foreign Minister should cancel his Washington trip and rather focus on repaying debts owed to American companies and taxpayers.
He claimed that while the U.S. continues to support Ghana, the West African nation is “paying far larger debts to China.”
“Instead of a trip to D.C., Ghana’s foreign minister should focus on honoring his government’s commitments to repay U.S. companies and the American taxpayers,” the senator wrote. “We cannot keep subsidizing Ghana while it continues paying far larger debts to China.”
In a Facebook post responding to the senator’s statement, Ablakwa called Risch’s comments “extremely offensive” and accused him of hypocrisy.
“This is very rich coming from someone who refuses to engage in the same advocacy for the payment of reparations by the US for its despicable and condemnable role in slavery,” Ablakwa fired back.
He further insisted that Ghana, a sovereign nation, would not be dictated to by foreign officials on how to run its affairs.
Citing the legacy of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s founding president, Ablakwa reminded Risch of Ghana’s proud history of defeating colonialism and standing up to imperial pressure.
“You will not be allowed to dictate to a sovereign country on how we conduct our foreign policy — if you need to be reminded — this is Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana — the first African nation to defeat colonialism and imperialism,” he asserted.
Ablakwa also addressed the debt concerns raised by the senator, arguing that the U.S. owed African nations far more in reparations than what Ghana currently owes in external debt.
He emphasized that the Mahama administration, although not responsible for the accumulation of the debt in question, is committed to repaying it through a prudent economic recovery programme.
“Let me be clear, those measly debts compared to what you owe us in reparations would be paid when we deem appropriate… Unlike you, we take responsibility and honour our national obligations,” Ablakwa stated.
