Our foreign policy hinges on 3 goals

Page 25: March 5, 2008.
Article: Albert K. Salia

A country's foreign policy is a set of goals that seeks to outline how that particular country will interact on an official basis with other countries of the world and, to a lesser extent, non-state actors. In pursing such an agenda — including economic, political, social, military — there is the need to evaluate and monitor them in attempts to maximise the benefits of multilateral international co-operation.
Foreign policies generally are designed to help protect a country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. This can occur as a result of peaceful co-operation with other nations, or through aggression, war, and exploitation.
It may be assumed that foreign policy is as ancient as the human society itself. The twentieth century saw a rapid rise in the importance of foreign policy, with virtually every nation in the world now being able to interact with one another in some diplomatic form.
Usually, creating a foreign policy is the job of the head of government and the foreign minister (or equivalent). In some countries the legislature also has considerable oversight.
It is important to indicate that some critics of Ghana’s foreign policy have described it as “follow the crowd type” or a country without no foreign policy at all. That, they explain, is because Ghana’s foreign policy has no coherent and distinctive doctrinal orientation and niche.
They argue that the distinctive markers of such a foreign policy are, first, government officials are reactionary rather than proactive; second, official stated foreign policy goals are usually vague and the foreign minister frequently flip-flops; and third, the Executive rather than well-trained professionals becomes the implementer of the policy.
It has been argued that since Nkrumah/Busia administration Ghana’s foreign policy has been marked by the above tendencies. Many Ghanaians were unhappy at the frequent trekking of the President during his first term. Foreign policy experts will tell that you frequent trips of Presidents are typical of states without any well-established foreign policy niche.
Unlike states with established niche whose leaders travel primarily to seal deals already worked out or to engage in diplomatic niceties, leaders of countries without well established stance do the diplomacy themselves.
In such states, foreign policy orientation is based on the whims of who ever is in power. The President’s views on international affairs constitute the foreign policy stance of the country.
Ghana’s Foreign Policy
Ghana's foreign policy since independence has been characterised by a commitment to the principles and ideals of Nonalignment and Pan-Africanism as first enunciated by Dr Kwame Nkrumah in the early 1960s.
For Nkrumah, non-alignment meant complete independence from the policies and alliances of both the East and West and support for a worldwide union of so-called non-aligned nations as a counter to both the East and West power blocs. Pan-Africanism, by contrast, was a specifically African policy that envisioned the liberation of African peoples from Western colonialism and the eventual economic and political unity of the African continent.
The PNDC, like most of its predecessors, made serious and consistent attempts at the practical application of these ideals and principles, and its successor, the NDC government, followed in the PNDC's footsteps. Under the NDC, Ghana remained committed to the principle of non-alignment in world politics. Ghana is also opposed to interference in the internal affairs of both small and large countries. This is a departure from Nkrumah's foreign policy approach; Nkrumah was frequently accused of subverting African regimes, such as Togo and Cote d'Ivoire, which he considered ideologically conservative.
The NDC government, like the PNDC before it, believed in the principle of self-determination, including the right to political independence and the right of people to pursue their economic and social development free from external interference.
Another feature of NDC rule carried over from the PNDC era was faithfulness to what a leading scholar of Africa has called "one of the most successful neo-classical economic reform efforts supported by the IMF and the World Bank".
The broad objectives of Ghana's foreign policy thus included maintaining friendly relations and co-operation with all countries that desire such co-operation, irrespective of ideological considerations, on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. Africa and its liberation and unity are naturally the cornerstones of Ghana's foreign policy. Ghana being a founder member of the African Union (AU), formerly the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the NDC government’s policy was to adhere faithfully to the AU Charter.
Another important principle of Ghana's foreign policy involves the closest possible co-operation with neighbouring countries with which the people of Ghana share cultural and economic history, and blood ties. The results have included various bilateral trade and economic agreements and permanent joint commissions involving Ghana and its immediate neighbours, sometimes in the face of latent ideological and political differences and mutual suspicion, as well as numerous reciprocal state visits by high-ranking officials. These measures have contributed significantly to sub-regional co-operation and development, and the reduction of tension.
As an example of Ghana's interest in regional co-operation, the country enthusiastically endorsed the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 1975. This organisation was created specifically to foster inter-regional economic and political co-operation. It has served as a useful vehicle for contacts with neighbouring West African governments and for channelling increased Ghanaian exports to regional markets. Since 1990 ECOWAS has been engaged in a peacekeeping mission in Liberia to which Ghana has contributed a large contingent of troops. Ghana has participated in other international peacekeeping efforts as well, sending soldiers to operations of the United Nations (UN) in Cambodia in 1992-93 and Rwanda in 1993-94.
In August 1994, Rawlings became ECOWAS chairman, a post that had eluded him since the PNDC came to power. He immediately undertook several initiatives to reduce tensions and conflicts in West Africa. Notable among them was the Akosombo Accord of September 12, designed to end civil war in Liberia.
President J. A. Kufuor has not strayed far from Ghana's good-neighbour policy in the sub-region. In the 1990s, Rawlings sent Ghanaian troops and civilian police to join United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces in Liberia, Sierra Leone and around the continent under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
This policy has continued under Kufuor. Ghana continues to advocate closer economic ties with neighbouring states, and is a proponent of a West African monetary zone. Relations with Togo, despite the negative connotations that befriending a dictator has, are close.
If there is continuity in foreign policy, there also is departure. Kufuor travelled extensively in his first two years to show the world a Ghana without Rawlings. Not only did Kufuor's former foreign minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, speak out against Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe's handling of that country's land policy and its treatment of white farmers, Ghana was among the first African states to agree to submit to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The APRM obliges African heads of state to submit to policy review by their peers thereby providing donors with evidence of African commitment to raising standards of governance.
From all these, one can conclude that Ghana’s foreign relations has been structured around three major goals: Attracting development assistance and investment capital, maintaining friendly ties with neighbours, and playing an active and constructive role in international and regional fora by engaging in peacekeeping and election monitoring missions. These goals reflect pragmatism dictated by poor economic conditions and the need to compete globally for development assistance.
In the early 1980s, for instance, Ghana agreed to embark on IMF/World Bank sponsored programme of economic and political liberalisation in order to attract development aid and foreign investment. It has also maintained good relations with Nigeria (from whom Ghana receives crude oil at concessionary prices) and Cote d’Ivoire (which provides electrical energy supplements when needed) irrespective of the type of leadership governing those states.
Ghana is cognisant of its weak capacity for unilateral action in the international arena and hence augments its power by developing close ties (usually at the presidential level) with more powerful states.
Ghana’s limited capacity for unilateral action also has led it to pursue many foreign policy activities through multilateral channels such as the United Nations, the African Union (AU), and the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS). Membership in these organisations provide Ghana with a platform for protecting some of its interests, as well as to establish itself as a leader on several issues of concern to the African continent. For example, through the UN and ECOWAS, Ghana has been able to engage in numerous peacekeeping missions, which earns it international respect as a partner for global stability and a moral leader in African affairs.
But Ghana’s involvement in international peacekeeping functions is sometimes also driven more by a desire to raise funds for its military than peace and security concerns. Such pragmatism allows Ghana to influence events in neighbouring African countries sometimes to an extent that belies her small size and resources.
Ghana’s other foreign relations “assets” include its status as a “role model” and the prominent role several Ghanaian nationals play in global affairs. Ghana’s “role model” status arises out of the country’s position as the first African state south of the Sahara to gain independence from colonial rule and the dynamic leadership of its first president, Kwame Nkrumah, in the Pan-Africanist movement.
The decision to implement World Bank-sponsored economic reform programmes two decades ago and recent democratic reforms have also reinforced the “role model” image and somewhat established Ghana as a leader of the movement for political change and rejuvenation of the African continent.
The change in government from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and former President Jerry Rawlings’s decision to peacefully leave office after his constitutionally prescribed term limit, for instance, were seen as symbolic lessons for other African leaders.
The leadership positions occupied by Ghanaian nationals in various multilateral institutions also enhance the country’s profile in the comity of nations. Mr Kofi Annan and Dr K. Y. Amoako are immediate heads of the United Nations and the Economic Commission for Africa respectively while Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambers heads ECOWAS. The country takes credit for the works of these and other nationals in the field of international diplomacy and the nation often supports their work by launching mediation sessions to bring peace to war-torn countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Cote d’Ivoire and also by hosting conferences that enhance the prospects for democracy and development in Africa.
Ghana’s record of support for democracy internationally in the past decade has been good especially under the Kufuor administration. Despite its limited resources, Ghana has been an active participant in democracy promotion abroad.
It has mediated disputes in other countries, the most recent was the Kofi Annan brokered deal in Kenya; provided technical assistance and participated in election monitoring and peacekeeping. Ghanaian leaders have participated in international fora and been vocal in publicly condemning actions that subvert the democratic process.
President Kufuor in particular, has been a strong advocate for democracy, frequently stressing the importance of the rule of law and respect for human rights. In a keynote address at the AU summit in Zambia this year he stated that, “The African Union must reflect the commitment of its member states to democracy, the rule of law and the protection and promotion of human rights ...” We also believe that unconstitutional means of changing governments on the continent is an anachronism, and should not be tolerated in an era of mutual respect amongst us as states, governments and peoples.
Ghana under Kufuor has also been at the forefront of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and a strong advocate for the peer review mechanism that emphasises good governance as criteria for membership.
Clearly, the mark of Ghana’s foreign policy has been that when strategic interests are at stake, Ghana’s leaders have chosen co-operation and friendship over criticism.