As the United States of America goes to the polls today to elect a new president, Ghana has been admonished to keep an open-door policy irrespective of the outcome of the elections.
US-based Ghanaian Professor of Finance, Prof. Williams Peprah believes it will be in the best interest of Ghana to avoid taking sides since such a stance may negatively affect the country’s economy.
The US elections is as usual a two-horse race between the Republicans led by the Former President, Donald Trump, and the Democrats represented by the current Vice President of US, Kamala Harris.
Given the more liberal approach of the Democrats to foreign policy, diplomacy, immigration, and economic ties against what is perceived as the “high-handedness” of the Trump-led Republicans, there is the tendency for Africans including governments to throw support behind the Kamala Harris-led Democrats.
There is also the tendency that Africans and blacks in general will lean towards Kamala Harris since she is also a African American just like the support former US President, Barack Obama enjoyed.
Some other experts also believe the long-standing trade relationship between the US and Africa; thus the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) may reach a turning point for good or bad depending on who wins the elections.
But the Associate Finance Professor says it will be in Ghana’s best interest to remain neutral and operate an open-door policy irrespective of the outcome.
“As a country, we may have to keep an open door to ensure that this trade relationship still exist. When it comes to foreign aid and policies, we know that both parties; Republicans and Democrats have their own policies. We have noticed that President Trump is focusing more on the domestic agenda. There is the kind of fear that when he becomes the President, other nations may suffer,” the Andrews University Professor explained.
He added that “What really may affect Ghana is the point of trade, whether either of the Presidents will be having a policy that is going to affect AGOA and that will be a major impact on us.”
He therefore maintains that despite who emerges victorious, Ghana has a huge comparative advantage in terms of natural resources which is of great importance to the US. Prof. Peprah believes that the country can leverage this comparative advantage to benefit from whoever is president.
He said, “Whoever becomes the President, we should go in to make sure that based on our comparative advantages, we will get the best out of each of the presidents. There is no need for us to align ourselves with the Democrats or the Republicans. Our aim must be how do we get the best for our country.”
