Elizabeth Ohene: Her excellencies in Ghana

Elizabeth Ohene Opinion Apr - 29 - 2015 , 10:51

I am not quite sure how many people have noticed it, but Ghana has probably qualified to enter the Guinness Book of Records for a happy and interesting reason. No it is not for the highest number of promises made and broken by a President; we will come to that on another occasion.

There are currently 20 female heads of diplomatic missions in Ghana. Let me take that again; there are 20 female ambassadors and high commissioners serving in Ghana. Surely that must be a record of some kind.

I remember the first time a female ambassador was sent to Ghana back in 1974. It made worldwide news not just because a woman ambassador had been sent to us, but I believe this was more because of the personality involved.

The Americans had appointed as their Ambassador to Ghana, Shirley Temple Black, who had been a child actor and Hollywood star. She was headline news and her stay in Ghana brought her and Ghana regularly into the news.

I did not live in Ghana between 1982 and June 2000 and, therefore, make no claims of intimate knowledge of the goings and comings in the diplomatic field then but I did follow things from afar.

The USA

After Shirley Temple Black left in 1976, the Americans did not send any more females until 1998. Then it felt like they had introduced an New Patriotic Party (NPP) style Affirmative Action policy whereby a female ambassador could only be succeeded by another female ambassador. From October 1998 until June 2008, they sent four female ambassadors in succession.

The last one of the four, Pamela Bridgewater, an African-American, who served from 2005 till June 2008, became something of a local celebrity here. She was a regular visitor to the Office of the President and relations between the United States of America (USA) and Ghana blossomed; President Kufuor was a guest at the White House and President George W. Bush visited Ghana. The Millennium Challenge Account which gave Ghana $500million was negotiated and signed during her tenure.

The Pamela Bridgewater Project, which she established to train disadvantaged girls and other vulnerable children, remains part of her legacy in Ghana.

Two other female ambassadors to Ghana around the same period were constantly in the news.

Japan

The Japanese Ambassador, Mrs Kazuko Asai, very much belied her petite stature and was forever undertaking physical adventures around the country. The Mallam-Yamoransa road was built with a Japanese grant after the Japanese had stated their unhappiness about Ghana accessing Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) funds. The University of Ghana conferred an honorary degree on her before she left.

India

Then there was Ruchi Ghanashyam, the Indian High Commissioner who served here from March 2008 to October 2011. I lost count of how many times she was made a queenmother in some parts of Ghana. The presidential office and residence complex, christened Jubilee House by President Kufuor, who built it, and renamed Flagstaff House by Presidents Mills and Mahama, was built with Indian loans and grants, and she was, therefore, very much in the public eye.

I mention these just to make the point that some high-profile female diplomats have served in Ghana. But maybe I dare not forget to mention that once in a while, there have been disasters.

Disasters

The most spectacular one being when the female Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer in Ghana, Sharon Scranage, got into a liaison with Michael Soussoudis who had close contacts within the ruling Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). The fallout from that relationship was painful all around: eight Ghanaians who were said to be CIA spies, were stripped of their citizenship and expelled to the US in return for Michael Soussoudis who had been arrested in the US by the American authorities when he was lured there by his lover who had gone back to the US. Relations between the two countries hit an all-time low.

There have been liaisons that had happier outcomes; the most interesting one being the Minister of Finance having a child with the Canadian High Commissioner.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any dramatic diplomatic liaisons currently and the 20 female ambassadors all exude frenetic official activity.

Brazil and China

In the past 11 years, Brazilian and Chinese companies have been the most active in Ghana and they both currently have female ambassadors. I have no doubt that by the time the Brazilian Ambassador is through with her plans for the old Brazil House in James Town, it will be obvious a dynamic and elegant woman has been at work.

I have been trying to work out what the attraction is in Ghana for so many countries to send female ambassadors here. We must be seen as a safe destination, because no one will send a female ambassador to a country that is seen as unsafe. Or could it be the world is trying to tell us something? Something like Ghana needs to increase female representation in the governance process, particularly in Parliament for example? Or is the attraction the fact that we have a female Minister of Foreign Affairs?

There must surely be a lesson in there somewhere with reference to the quality of the crop of female ambassadors serving in Ghana. When you spend some time with those we have here and you compare them with some of the ambassadors we have sent out, you can’t help but feel that we are short changing some of our hosts.

The heads of missions in Ghana of the following countries are all female: Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Israel, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, South Africa, China, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Angola, Norway, Denmark, Niger, DRC (chargé en pie) and Australia.

It is difficult to surmise any obvious links, ideological, geographical or otherwise in this group of countries. They range from world leaders, developed, secular, rich, long association with Ghana, to developing, struggling and recent diplomatic relations. But they certainly constitute a dynamic group. It surely would be interesting, for example, to get their opinions on the vexed subject of Affirmative Action.

There is one thing I am hoping the presence of so many female ambassadors will have on our country. I am praying that we will put a stop to the practice of inviting people to public functions for a programme to start at 9 a.m. and see all the diplomats come in faithfully and be seated at 8.50 a.m. and the public start drifting in from 9.40 a.m. and ministers of state waltz in at 10 a.m. and the President of the Republic arrives at 10.30 a.m.

I hear our current President is very anxious to be popular with the ladies and he does try to charm women. I predict a change in official time keeping as the first noticeable effect of having 20 female ambassadors in Ghana. The President wouldn’t want to keep a room full of female ambassadors waiting for him.

I shall be on the lookout for other changes. I wonder if we are going to establish a reputation as the country where you send female ambassadors, so that when these ones finish their tour, they will be replaced by other female ambassadors. Ghana will probably get to be known as the country of female ambassadors. Just a thought.