Robert P. Jackson is new US Ambassador to Ghana
Robert Porter Jackson has been sworn in as President Obama’s new United States Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana.
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The oath of office was administered by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Ambassador Jackson's nomination on October 22, 2015.
He plans to arrive in Ghana and take up his duties in Accra in January 2016.
Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Lieutenant General Joseph Henry Smith, attended the ceremony, which was also witnessed by Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Donald Teitelbaum.
A release issued to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday quotes Ambassador Jackson as saying at his swearing-in ceremony that he and his wife Babs were “excited about moving to Ghana, one of the leading democracies on the African continent.”
He said Ghana had active political parties and civil society organisations, a lively media, a history of peaceful political transitions, an apolitical military and a good human rights record.
As Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana, the release said, he intended to build on what he had learnt over the last 33 years about building partnerships.
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He stressed that his priorities would be to promote strong institutions, good governance, peace, trade, education, and health, unlock Ghana’s potential for sustained, inclusive, broad-based economic growth and help it graduate from traditional development assistance.
“Three years from now … I trust we will say that the relationship is stronger than ever and that together the United States of America and the Republic of Ghana have each benefited from our friendship, commerce, engagement and exchanges,” he assured.
Ambassador Jackson has served as the U.S. Department of State’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs since October 2013.
From 2010 to 2013, he was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon and was also Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires, in Rabat, Morocco, and Dakar, Senegal.
The release noted that Mr Jackson had also served in Washington, D.C., as the Director of the Office for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy and the Country Officer for Zimbabwe, Botswana and Nigeria; and as the Coordinator of the Entry-Level Officer Training Programme and Deputy Director of the Orientation Division at the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, among others.
Prior to joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1982, the release noted that Ambassador Jackson taught French and English as a foreign language at the Institute Montana in Zugerberg, Switzerland, having previously taught English and American Civilisation at the University of Clermont in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Ambassador Jackson earned his M.S. in National Resource Strategy from National Defense University, his M.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and his B.A. in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Ambassador Jackson speaks French and Portuguese, the release added.