De-Constructing Obama's Trip to Ghana

One of the great ironies of the utterly failed Bush administration was that despite its seemingly un-ending series of political gaffes, the one (comparatively) strong point of his foreign policy agenda was his relationship with Africa.  Though goodwill from the continent could be owed simply to the fact that he doubled aid to Africa (primarily in the form of PEPFAR funds), Bush nevertheless left Obama with surprisingly amicable relations with the continent. 

Fast forward to 2009. The White House announced last week that President Obama would be making his first trip to Africa since his inauguration as a President. While many assumed that the trip would undoubtedly take him to the much-publicized homeland of his father, Kenya, such was not the case.  Rather, Obama will make a brief, one night stop in Accra, Ghana. African media has been agog with speculation with three queries:  Why did the White House overlook Kenya? Why did it choose Ghana? And why weren't other African countries included on the tour?  

The answer to the final question is clear: Obama's stopover on the continent has been tacked on to the end of a longer G-8 trip to Russia, a move intended to help him stop the erosion of political capital he currently enjoys on the continent.  As a New York Times article explains, the stopover in Ghana was intended to "at least get a marker down before too much time passed," noting that by July, Obama would have visited Europe three times, without having been to Sub-Saharan Africa once.  Other countries weren't included in the tour because it is largely a  chronological place holder until a more prolonged Africa trip can be scheduled.  As to why Kenya was not chosen: this seems obvious.  Long the darling of East Africa, Kenya's presidential poll that was marred by ethnic violence in late 2007 and early 2008 still tempers the international community's vision of the country.  Such is exemplified by the highly publicized decision of the US Transportation Safety Administration to demand that Delta Airways pull out of a previously-agreed to direct flight from Atlanta to Nairobi.  (A flight to Monrovia, Liberia was also reneged, though direct flights into Abuja, Nigeria will go ahead as planned.)  Despite its deep admiration for Obama, Kenya's unending political tug-of-war between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki doesn't speak highly of its democratic capacity, and the celebrity of Obama in his patrimony would likely cause security risks for what is intended to be but a brief appearance. Finally, why Ghana?  The seemingly obvious answer is Ghana's admirable presidential election in December 2008, which saw a peaceful and largely transparent run-off between between eventual winner John Atta Mills and challenger Nana Akufo-Adodo.  In stark contrast to Kenya, Ghana proved capable and determined to prove itself an African state committed to democracy and peaceful transitions of power, a fact which Obama no doubt leveraged when choosing a destination on a continent enamored with him. Further, Ghana will provide Obama with a rather low-stress option for a one-night African appearance; as Lizzie Williams has said, Ghana may be described (in contrast to Nigeria, for instance) as "Africa for beginners." Obama's Africa trip, while not producing meaningful policy, will nevertheless have implications for the way that the continent views his administration, and doubly offers  slight insight into how his administration will approach Africa.  Rather than simply returning to the land of his father, Obama's largely cosmetic visit to Ghana does set the right precedent for US engagement by placing high value on democracy and peace rather than simply familial linkages.