US First Lady disembarking the Presidential aircraft a few minutes after it landed in Accra yesterday
We are excited even elated at the visit of Mrs. Melania Trump who arrives at a time when many Ghanaians have mixed feelings about her husband’s immigration policy and even his impressions about Africans.
We nonetheless extend our world acclaimed hospitality to Melania and wish her an interesting stay in Ghana; the origin of many of her compatriots, the African-Americans.
We pray that her visit would further improve the already existing bond of friendship between the US and Ghana as steeped in history.
Most Ghanaians were taken aback somewhat when they heard about the visit wondering whether something had changed about her husband’s impression of African countries.
In diplomacy, things changed very fast and seeming bad blood between nations are resolved within days, even hours regardless of how insurmountable they looked initially.
We are a nation of good people – our hospitability standing us apart from other African countries. We treat visitors with special deference and love; this we are confident she has had a taste of already.
Although the visit, characteristic of such trips by important dignitaries like her are brief, it is our hope that she would learn a lot about our beautiful country and even love it.
Such trips open up the world further allowing negative impressions to give way to positive thoughts hinged on mutual respect. Those who have not visited our part of the world before, especially, our continent, would easily describe us with inappropriate remarks.
It is our expectation that the short visit would encompass many items so Melania would learn about us and how good we are as a people.
This way when she returns, she would be able to talk from a position of knowledge about Ghana especially and Africa as a whole.
There are many Ghanaians living in the US – some of them citizens of that country by virtue of the acceptance of dual citizenship over there. We benefit greatly from the remittance of our compatriots residing in the US and would plead with Melania to implore her husband to be a little gentle on the issue of immigration. Although this might be a tall order, we nonetheless think that Melania could, who knows, effect a change in the mind of her husband. We recognize her role in seeking to reverse the obnoxious policy of separating children from their parents when they enter the US illegally.
Melania’s visit to some Ghanaian children and her show of solidarity with them is acknowledged by us. She might not be able to have Donald abandon his project outright but she can derive satisfaction from the fact that she did not fold her arms as her husband’s policy stung innocent children whose only fault was that they are children of parents seeking greener pastures from across the border with the Latin American countries.
We appreciate her passion for kids and plead that she thinks out a programme when she returns to the US that would change the fortunes of many kids in Ghana.
There are orphanages as well as kids with health conditions such as hole in heart and even cancer: the cost of treatment for which is beyond their parents; may God touch her heart to consider embarking on a project that could impact positively on challenged Ghanaian children in various areas. Safe journey back home, Melania.