Following President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order shutting off the funding for foreign aid programmes, President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana will invest in increasing food production as a response to the suspension.
This suspension is expected to have far-reaching economic effects across Africa, with Ghana facing a significant revenue shortfall of US$156million.
For instance, US$78.2million of the shortfall will impact crucial health programmes including malaria prevention, maternal and child health, family planning and HIV/AIDS interventions.
Speaking at the town hall forum of the Munich Security Conference in Germany last Friday, President Mahama expressed concern over the potential impact but advocated that Africans take steps to mitigate the effects by increasing local food production and securing alternative sources of funding.
The Munich Security Conference is an international security summit held annually in Munich, Germany. The gathering provides a venue for international decision-makers and diplomats to debate ideas and address security concerns.
The conference initially provided Germany, the U.S. and other NATO member-countries a forum to discuss and debate Western policy during the Cold War. President John Dramani Mahama was in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference.
The president also serves as Chairperson of the Tana Forum and will lead a Tana/MSC side event on ‘Deepening Global Fragmentation: Implications for Africa’s Peace and Security’.
While in Munich, President Mahama was scheduled to have bilateral discussions with a number of world leaders and organisations on a broad range of issues, mostly centring on mutual cooperation between Ghana and the respective countries.
The President has signalled his government’s resolve to invest in increasing food production, ensuring food security amid signs of less aid coming in from major donors such as the United States’ due to its new foreign policy direction.
USAID was first created by President John F. Kennedy in a 1961 executive order; Congress passed a law in 1998 to make it an “independent establishment” like others in the Cabinet.
Multiple administrations, Democratic and Republican alike, built USAID into an institution that has helped save millions of lives around the world, promoted U.S. interests in remote corners of the globe and employed thousands of Americans.
