Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ACCRA892
2005-05-10 17:50:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Accra
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR MEETS GHANAIAN PRESIDENT KUFUOR

Tags:  PGOV PINR PREL GH PHUM ECON EAID TO EPET EINV 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ACCRA 000892 

SIPDIS

CDR USEUCOM FOR GENL WALD/POLAD SNELL FROM AMBASSADOR YATES
TREASURY FOR ALEX SEVERENS
USTDA FOR BRYCE TERNET
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP, FOR ROD NORMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2015
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL GH PHUM ECON EAID TO EPET EINV
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS GHANAIAN PRESIDENT KUFUOR

REF: ACCRA 845 B) ACCRA 870 C) ACCRA 519 D) ACCRA 857

E) ACCRA 658

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR MARY C.YATES FOR
REASONS 1.5 (B,D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ACCRA 000892

SIPDIS

CDR USEUCOM FOR GENL WALD/POLAD SNELL FROM AMBASSADOR YATES
TREASURY FOR ALEX SEVERENS
USTDA FOR BRYCE TERNET
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP, FOR ROD NORMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2015
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL GH PHUM ECON EAID TO EPET EINV
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS GHANAIAN PRESIDENT KUFUOR

REF: ACCRA 845 B) ACCRA 870 C) ACCRA 519 D) ACCRA 857

E) ACCRA 658

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR MARY C.YATES FOR
REASONS 1.5 (B,D)


1. (U) This message has an action request (see para 18).


2. (C) Summary: Ambassador Yates had a lengthy, private
conversation with Ghanaian President Kufuor on Thursday
evening, May 5. They discussed the current situation in
Togo, his NPP party,s loss of the first bi-election of his
second mandate, increased conservatism in Ghanaian Muslim
communities, deregulation of oil pricing, corruption, NPP
political grumblings, Former President J.J. Rawlings, and the
Ambassador,s summer departure. President Kufuor indicated he
is seriously considering accepting the invitation from the
Corporate Council for Africa for its June Baltimore summit.
Post will try to ascertain as soon as possible about Kufuor's
travel in order to follow up on other senior meetings in
Washington if he were to come. Request AF/W assistance in
exploring possible meetings. End Summary.


3. (C) Following the May 5 State dinner for the NEPAD
(New Partnership for African Development) summit for the
Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme in
Accra, President John Kufuor asked to have a private
conversation with the Ambassador. He had postponed their
meeting 10 days earlier on the eve of his travel to Asia, so
this was possibly a substitute. He began the very informal
forty-five minute discussion, which occurred at the
Ambassador's residence, by diplomatically expressing his
regret about her pending departure. Highlights of the
subjects discussed follow:

--------------
On Togo
--------------



4. (C) The President is concerned about Togo but reaffirmed
his belief that the way forward now is with the newly elected
President Faure Gnassingbe. He volunteered that he had met
with Togolese opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio just that
week, indicating Ghana was in a dialogue with the opposition
in part to express concerns about violence. He mentioned that
Olympio was headed to European capitals and was not sure when
he would be returning (this tracks with Olympio's readout to
Polchief in ref A).


5. (C) Kufuor went into some detail about Gnassingbe,s
education (Sorbonne, and in America),calling him a young man
who understood how the wider world worked. Kufuor repeatedly
said Faure was someone with whom ECOWAS could work, which was
reminiscent of the line of his brother, the Defense Minister,
reported last week (Ref B). The Ambassador queried whether
Kufuor thought Faure was really in charge of the country or
whether it was the same repressive security services as in
the past decades under his father. Kufuor did not deny that
the same security services are operating. However, he was
convinced that young Faure has the power. "He is the elected
president." Kufuor expressed confidence that the leaders of
West Africa could bring him along.


6. (C) Kufuor said the porousness of the Togo border is of
great concern, noting that in the past few weeks he had been
briefed by his own services of at least 80 points along the
Ghana-Togo border which were used for smuggling. He
complimented his own Customs, Excise and Preventive Service
(CEPS) for the good work they are doing to track the
increased smuggling. This concern seemed to be primarily
economic in nature, and he singled out increased smuggling of
Chinese goods. The Ambassador explained the assistance the
U.S. has given Ghana with its border protection, but he
indicated they need more.

--------------
On the Lost By-Election and the Muslim North
--------------


7. (C) In a previous conversation with the Ambassador in
March before the election, Kufuor indicated that the April 21
Asawase by-election in his home Ashante region would be an
important test for his New Patriotic Party (NPP) since the
constituencies in this new Kumasi district were primarily in
poor Muslim areas (called "zongos"). The NPP had done poorly
in similar districts throughout the north in the December
2004 election. Despite Kufuor's intervention of replacing
the female candidate with a male Muslim just weeks before the
election, the NPP lost this ballot by a significant margin.

8. (C) In our post-election meeting, the President
downplayed the significance of this loss. He regretted that
the new district had been formed with such heavy predominance
of "zongos" but said that his party was working hard to reach
out to Muslim populations. At one point he spoke with a bit
of bravado that the NPP was making progress with the politics
of the North because moderate Muslims were supporting the
NPP. He was confident that in the future more Muslims would
support the NPP, although he did not understand why they
could have voted against him in 2004 because he had a Muslim
vice president.


9. (C) The Ambassador asked the President for his
observations and insights into the growth of fundamentalist
Islam in Ghana. She said in her travels in Ghana since 2003,
she had noticed some changes in Northern Muslims, like the
growing number of women fully covered in black headscarves
and clothing. He said that there are clear changes within
the Muslim community, including growing internal strife. He
expressed concern over the growth of conservative Muslim
groups in general but particularly in Kumasi. The poor
"zongos" are filled with young people who are not educated.
They only follow what they are told by the Imams. He agreed
that he had seen an increase in the use of headcoverings
during his widespread election campaign travels. He also
repeated what he said in the March 9 meeting, that Iran was
making in-roads in Ghana, in good part because of itinerant
preachers and poverty. When asked if he felt the Ghanaian
government was getting closer in trade and other relations
with the Iranian government, he responded with a strong no.

--------------
On Deregulation
--------------


10. (C) The Ambassador raised deregulation of oil pricing at
the early May Mini-Consultative Group Meeting with a dozen
Ghanaian ministers, donors, World Bank, and IMF reps
encouraging Ghana to adhere to its deregulation plans,
protect its budget, and begin the process of removing
government from setting fuel prices. This intervention was
also on the agenda of the postponed scheduled Presidential
meeting. Kufuor returned to this subject in our May 5
discussion, reaffirming his government's commitment to the
petroleum deregulation process. He said that his government
had already taken the difficult step of raising the oil
prices by over 50 percent, had worked hard on a realistic
budget and would continue with the deregulation process.
(Note: The British High Commissioner had told the Ambassador
that the President had called him to a meeting just prior to
the Asian trip to pass the same message. This indicates a
commitment has been made at the highest level.)

--------------
On Corruption
--------------


11. (C) The Ambassador's earlier conversation with
Defense Minister Kufuor, on corruption (ref B),may have been
the real reason for this late night call. The Ambassador had
expressed her concern about the growing number of allegations
and experiences of corruption that the embassy was hearing
about from a variety of businessmen, NGOs, and diplomatic
colleagues. President Kufuor's response was unlike his
brother's, who took our corruption concerns seriously but
blamed the NDC opposition for accusations and undermining the
government. The President asked the Ambassador to give him
details, cases and specific allegations, saying he would look
into them personally.


12. (C) The Ambassador asked why he had approved at least
four ministers in his new government who had corruption
charges exposed in their parliamentary vettings. (Many in the
media and diplomatic circles have been asking the same). He
defended each one of the ministers in some detail (a speech
which had surely been given before). His most curious
defense was of Roads and Transport Minister Richard Anane,
since new damaging press articles emerged this past week with
additional allegations. Kufuor applauded this minister's
results and pointed to the huge road projects, completions
and successes indicating that sacking people like this did
not make sense. In this case, he was rewarding Anane's
performance while acknowledging the man had some problems
with his private life. He said that he sincerely would like
to know about specific corruption cases so he could have them
investigated. The Ambassador suggested a possible
investigation of the ports, a consistent focus of complaints
about pervasive corruption. She said that while businesses
and NGOs found it difficult to get their goods through,
corruption at the ports might lead to bigger problems making
the country more vulnerable to security and terrorism threats.

--------------
On Political Grumblings and J.J. Rawlings
--------------


13. (C) The President was candid about internal political
grumblings in his party and the future of the NPP's political
cohesiveness. He spoke about his future and legacy and what
he wanted to accomplish in the first two years of his second
term. He is aware that some donors and outsiders are
concerned that actions are not being taken swiftly enough,
and was defensive about this pointing out that it takes any
government time--even America--to select new ministers and
put together a budget. He was proud of the February budget
deliberations. He acknowledged that he has current ministers
who are already "running" for president which also
complicates political activities.


14. (C) Kufuor raised the subject of former President
Rawlings, and the Ambassador told him exactly what she told
his brother. She said that at public meetings at the recent
APARC Africa Presidential Archives and Research Center
Conference in South Africa, the former President was
relatively constrained regarding complaints against Kufuor's
government; however she knew Rawlings had spoken about Kufuor
government's corruption to conference participants privately.

--------------
MCA, New Airlines,...
--------------


15. (C) The President chided the Ambassador about being
tough on him over the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
progress, and she responded that she only wanted the MCA
compact to progress, due diligence to be successful and a
signed compact completed. She complimented his personal
engagement and the establishment of the new Ghanaian MCC team
complete with experts and private sector representatives who
seemed to be making headway. She also informed him that an
MCC team would be once again in Ghana working the next week.
He seemed confident in the new team and in the success of the
Ghanaian compact.


16. (C) In the President's musings about Ghana's potential
and his desire to see real economic growth, he raised the
situation of Ghana's airline connections. He said Ghana can
and will become the transit hub of West Africa. He said
that Ghana International Airlines (GIA) and North American
Airlines (NAA) would be coming on line as reported (Ref D).
He also confirmed that he was working directly with President
Mbeki (Reftel E) on Fifth Freedom rights to allow passenger
access in Accra to South African Airways, pending new summer
flight scheduling with direct access between Accra and the
U.S. He repeated that he has taken the airline business out
of the Ministry of Roads and Transport and moved it to the
Presidential offices in the castle, which reflects his
personal interest in making these connections a reality.

--------------
On Possible June Washington Travel
--------------


17. (C) The Ambassador mentioned the invitation from
Corporate Council on Africa's Stephen Hayes to President
Kufuor to speak at the June 22 CCA luncheon in Baltimore.
Trade Minister Kyerematen had earlier indicated he and
President Kufuor were considering attending. The President
said he hoped a serious group of business persons from Ghana
would attend and could meet with serious U.S. investors. The
Ambassador said that her embassy was already coordinating
with Minister Kyerematen and would be delighted to help
arrange his schedule and meetings if he were to come to the
U.S. Kufuor asked if there would be any possibility of
meeting with President Bush and Secretary Rice. The
Ambassador said she would pass the request on and make every
effort once we knew his decision about travel.


18. (SBU) Request for AF/W action: Can AF/W ascertain
whether there would be any chance of a brief meeting with
President Bush and Secretary Rice if President Kufuor were to
come to Washington approximately June 20-23?
YATES