Angela Merkel
Madam Angela Merkel has joined the long list of important dignitaries of international standing to have visited Ghana since President Akufo-Addo assumed leadership of the country. The gesture is a recognition all Ghanaians should cherish especially since not all Presidents are blessed with this aura as to attract such tours by leaders of industrialized nations.
Countries with undignified human rights records, among other blemishes, do not attract such privileged visits. Some Presidents have blood on their hands and others enmeshed in so much corruption that nobody wants to associate with them.
Fortunately, we are nowhere near such tags; ours being a democracy from which others are learning great lessons about how this decent form of government can lead to international respectability and therefore prosperity.
We acknowledge the painstaking efforts in making Angela Merkel’s trip happen -from our envoy’s role in her Bonn office to the coordination at the Foreign Ministry and the German Embassy both in Accra- the results have been outstanding.
International relations constitute a delicate subject requiring skills in that aspect of diplomacy – knowledge of which our President is endowed with. We are unsurprised at the outcomes of his engagements with his many foreign guests who continue to acknowledge his progress so far at the helm.
The discussions between the German visitor and her Ghanaian counterpart, we are told, were fruitful as evidenced by the good tidings of VW coming to set base here in Ghana. Merkel’s visit at this time of the government’s efforts at turning the fortunes of the country around is auspicious. The German strong woman should be close to winding up her African project as we compose this commentary.
Our insatiable need for foreign investment is understandable because our economy, having been mismanaged over the years, requires a new direction which President Akufo-Addo is shepherding the country along.
The flagship programmes of dam construction, the building of factories among others, need the kind of partnership with the industrialized nations to help us realize our goals of industrialization and job creation among others.
It is our hope that the German strong woman would make good the promises she made during her visit since, after all, the African tour is about strengthening the existing bond of friendship between Bonn and her African counterparts.
Such bond of cooperation should be steeped in sincerity and not subservience. The restive international market is a source of concern to small economies like ours.
The unpredictability of President Trump and its effects on the world market should not be glossed over by countries such as ours. If countries like Germany are hit by the fallouts from trade wars, the fallouts can hurt us immensely.
In a global village which the world is, we should be concerned about developments on the international scene. Germany would be restricted in what she can offer her friends, such as Ghana, if a trade war instigated by the US hits her economy.
We recognize the humanitarian role of Angela Merkel in admitting thousands of distressed refugees even when some of her compatriots and rival parties disagreed with her.
We wish her Godspeed in her African project and a safe trip back to Germany.