CODEL NELSON CALLS ON MINISTER, MEETS ELECTION

UNCLAS ACCRA 001581

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/W

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: GH KDEM PGOV PHUM PINS PREL
SUBJECT: CODEL NELSON CALLS ON MINISTER, MEETS ELECTION
OFFICIALS


1. (U) Senator Bill Nelson called on Ghana's Minister of
Parliamentary Affairs, Abraham Ossei-Aidooh, on December 14
to congratulate the Minister and the Ghanaian people on their
recent successful presidential and parliamentary elections
and to assure the Minister of continued U.S. support for
Ghana as it claims its rightful role in the community of
democracies. Senator Nelson was accompanied by his wife
Grace Nelson, Ambassador Don Teitelbaum, the Senator's
legislative assistant Greta Lundeberg, Caroline Tess, his
designee on the Intelligence Committee, and Captain John
O'Brien, the Marine Corps military escort.


2. (U) Minister Ossei-Aidoo and Senator Nelson covered a
wide range of subjects, including the Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA),the Millenium Challenge Agreement,
and military and counter-narcotics assistance being provided
to Ghana by the United States. Discussions included some of
the similarities between the U.S. Congress and Ghana's
Parliament, and the question of how Parliament plans to
address the issues it will face as it seats its first
legislative body without a single-party majority.


3. (U) Ossei-Aidooh thanked the Senator for his words of
encouragement for Ghana's democratic elections, and asked him
to help Ghana protect its nascent democracy by providing a
fair balance in the economic marketplace. He said that Ghana
was losing jobs and closing factories because of cheap
imports that were flooding its markets, and lamented that the
country was unable to compete with the efficiencies and
competitive advantages of Western nations. What good is
democracy, he asked, if we cannot provide jobs for our people?


4. (U) Sen. Nelson and the Ambassador told the Minister
that many of the issues he was raising about Economic
Partnership Agreements (EPAs) involved the European Union and
not the United States. Approximately 98 percent of the goods
entering the U.S. from Africa do so duty-free, and great
strides have been made under AGOA and other trade agreements.


5. (U) On the subject of Ghana's next Parliament,
Ossei-Aidoo, who did not stand for reelection as an MP, said
that a Parliament without a majority would indeed be a
novelty for Ghanaian politics, and that it was hard to tell
at this point in time how well Parliament would function
under this new regime. He said that he preferred full
separation of the executive and legislative branches, where
no ministers were appointed from Parliament and MPs
concentrated on lawmaking.


6. (U) On Sunday evening the Ambassador hosted a dinner in
honor of Senator Nelson, attended by his delegation and key
members of various non-political organizations who had
contributed to making the December 7 elections a resounding
success. Among those attending were the Deputy Chairman of
the Electoral Commission, members of Ghana's Center for
Democratic Development and the Coalition of Domestic Election
Observers, the Carter Center, the European Union Election
Observation Mission, and the National Commission for Civic
Education. Sen. Nelson warmly congratulated all of those
involved on their successful endeavors, and encouraged them
to continue their efforts on December 28 when the country
goes back to the polls for the runoff presidential elections.


7. (U) This message has been cleared by Codel Nelson.
TEITELBAUM