LegiStorm

Summary:

Ghana stands out in West Africa for its record of stability and peaceful electoral transfers of power through competitive elections since a transition to multiparty rule in the early 1990s. Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African nation to achieve independence from European colonial rule (in 1957), has a complex political history. The country endured decades of military rule, with several efforts to establish multiparty democracy. These efforts eventually led to the adoption of a new multiparty constitution in 1992. John Dramani Mahama, leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), was declared the winner of the December 2024 presidential election, succeeding Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who had served two terms since January 2017. Successive governments have generally respected civic liberties, and Ghana is one of two West African countries classified by Freedom House as “free.” According to the U.S. State Department and international organizations, remaining challenges include corruption, security force abuses, electoral violence, discrimination and attacks against sexual and gender minorities. Journalists have faced harassment and physical violence, including assassinations, for reporting on politically sensitive matters. Ghana’s economy is more diverse and dynamic than many in West Africa. Gold, crude oil, and cocoa are the country’s leading export commodities. The services sector has burgeoned since the mid-2000s, underpinned by growing banking, tourism, transportation, and information and communications technology (ICT) industries. The economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine aggravated preexisting challenges. Inflation reached record-high levels in 2022 amid increases in global food and fuel prices and a depreciation of Ghana’s currency, the cedi. The country, to which the People’s Republic of China is a key lender, defaulted on its external debt in 2022 and secured a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan in 2023. Ghana has enjoyed relative security and stability since its transition to multiparty rule. Ghana has never experienced a civil war, though disputes over land and succession to local chieftaincy positions have at times spurred local insecurity. Since 2020, Congress has expressed growing concern about expanding Islamist extremist violence in the Sahel. Ghanaian authorities have warned that armed groups based in Burkina Faso, to Ghana’s north, may seek to expand into northern Ghana, as they have done in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, as well as in nearby Benin; Ghana has not experienced a proven extremist attack to date. Ghana also faces challenges in securing its territorial waters amidst persistent illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. U.S.-Ghana relations are premised on shared democratic values, cooperation on regional and multilateral diplomacy, and development partnerships. Ghana’s democratic stability positions it as a reliable regional partner, evident in its strong diplomatic, economic, and security ties with the United States. The Biden Administration has designated Ghana, as part of the coastal West Africa sub-region, as a priority for assistance under the Global Fragility Act (GFA, Title V of Division J, P.L. 116-94). Ghana is a focus country under several U.S. global development initiatives, including the President’s Malaria Initiative and Feed the Future, and has completed two Millennium Challenge Corporation development compacts. People-topeople and cultural ties also are robust: there is a sizable Ghanaian diaspora community in the United States, and Ghana is a major destination for heritage tourism and migration by Black Americans, driven in part by shared legacies of the transatlantic slave trade. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Vice President Kamala Harris all visited Ghana while in office. Multiple coups, extremist threats, and rising Russian influence among some countries in West Africa may also elevate Ghana’s strategic significance. Congressional attention to Ghana has focused on implementation of the Global Fragility Act, regional security concerns, child labor, and economic opportunities including the potential of transatlantic cable projects.