President-elect of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has characterized the Ghana – United States (US) bilateral relations as critical in finding solutions to the country’s difficult economic and energy challenges.
Delivering remarks during a courtesy call on him by the US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, Mr. Mahama recalled how productive the relationship between the two countries was in his erstwhile government’s quest to address the power crisis.
“We are willing to continue to deepen this relationship. It is critical more now than before because of what Ghana is going through, both in terms of economy and finances but more importantly because of the energy sector.
“Knowing the comparative advantage, technology and knowledge the US has, we want to work closely to see how we can resolve some of the issues in that sector. Of course we worked on the MCC together and it’s made Ghana’s electricity generation more resilient than it was before the MCC,” the President-elect observed.
The Ghana Compact was a project by the United States’ Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) which saw to the investment of over $300million in the country’s energy sector.
Mr. Mahama also acknowledged the unstable security environment in some parts of the West African sub-region, pledging to work with the United States to address the issue which posed a threat to Ghana.
“On the security front, we know what the issues in our sub-region are and the US has been a longstanding partner in terms of improving our resilience when it comes to security matters and so we look to continue the cooperation in that space,” he told the ambassador.
The United States does consider Ghana one of its closest allies in Sub-Saharan Africa, a mutual relationship consolidated last year when US Vice-President Kamala Harris visited the country as part of a weeklong tour of Africa.
Upon his election as the 6th President of the 4th Republic, the US was among the first countries to extend a message of goodwill to Mr. Mahama.
“The United States congratulates President-elect John Mahama on his successful election campaign, following the declaration of results by Ghana’s Electoral Commission. We extend further congratulations to Vice President-elect Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang on becoming Ghana’s first female vice president,” US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken wrote after the Electoral Commission declared the official results.
