Washington — President Bush praised Ghanaian President John Kufuor for his strong leadership and for active support in conflict resolution across Africa.
And Bush thanked Kufuor and the nation of Ghana for participation in 11 continuing U.N. peacekeeping operations, including efforts to bring about a resolution of the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. Kufuor was welcomed to the White House September 15 as part of a full state visit.
"One of the initiatives that we're working on together is the fight against neglected tropical diseases," Bush said at a joint press briefing. "And the president brought me up to date on the strategy to deal with that important issue and how we can help." Ghana has been working closely with the United States on a malaria initiative Bush launched in 2005.
Since its inception, the malaria program has reached an estimated 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. The initiative is providing $1.2 billion over five years to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in 15 African nations.
"And the good news is that this is a government that's very capable of taking American help and converting it into the kind of results that we all expect," Bush said.
Kufuor said Ghana once was dubbed "the white man's grave" because of the high number of deaths among Europeans who traveled there. Malaria "continues to plague much of Africa and perhaps is the biggest killer, even bigger than HIV/AIDS, of our people on the continent. The hefty support we are getting from the United States and under your watch is very welcome, and we hope to take it even further, again employing technologies and more scientific research," Kufuor said.
Similarly, Kufuor said, the United States has invested heavily in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa by giving more than $20 billion.
Bush said he and Kufuor also discussed education and economic opportunities and that the United States supports vital educational partnerships with Ghana. "We're training teachers. We've issued 6,000 scholarships to girls," Bush said. "Under the president's leadership the education system is improving."
One of the Bush administration's most important economic development initiatives in Africa has been the Millennium Challenge Account. "It's an opportunity for the United States government to help countries that govern justly and invest in the health and education of their people and believe in market economies," Bush said. "Ghana is such a country. We're soon to begin spending $547 million to renovate schools, increase agricultural productivity, expand infrastructure and support rural development," Bush said.
Kufuor acknowledged the closeness of U.S.-Ghanaian relations since Ghana attained independence in 1957, but also said he believed the relationship has grown stronger during his two terms as president. Both Bush and Kufuor leave office next year.
Bush visited Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda and Tanzania in February, announcing a series of economic, security, educational and health measures during the trip.
Kufuor said Millennium Challenge Account funding is significant because about 60 percent of the Ghanaian population is rural and depends on agriculture both for subsistence and for economic growth. He said the MCA will help Ghana develop more scientific and technological farming methods, making agriculture more attractive to the nation's youth.
"We are suffering as an economy adrift, very serious drift of the youth from the rural parts to the urban areas, which have not been planned to accommodate the drifts," Kufuor said. "And so now in our streets in the big towns you have street children. We believe the success of the Millennium Challenge Account will help stem all [these] anti-social developments."