At the 10th anniversary of democratic rule under the third republic of Nigeria, events gracing the occasion which was attended by a former US Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, a hysteric Nigerian audience posed this question to Powell. ”Why is it that Nigeria is the most populous, and endowed with rich mineral resources but all the attention of the United States is paid to Ghana, our closest rival in the West Africa Sub-region?
The answer that was given by the American potentate compelled the Nigerians to devise this slogan, ”we are the ultimate destination to the region if Ghana remains your gateway to West Africa,” then the auditorium in Abuja’s Transcorp Hilton hotel burst with the wildest guffaws.
There was something Gen. Colin Powell said that cements the growing ties between Ghana and the United States. He said, that Ghana keeps proving to the world that her democracy has come to stay.
From pre-independence to independence in 1957, Ghana and the United States have been traditional friends but the partnership lulled in the three decades that followed Ghana’s independence due to military interventions that dogged governance with their attendant human rights abuses. Then Ghana showed the way to the light even within the civil war turbulence that racked other parts of West Africa.
Below is a photo gallery of the long journey of the partnership between Ghana and the United States. Ghana talks and the US listens.
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