Interview

GHANA IS AN IMPORTANT BENEFICIARY

Her Excellency Mrs Mary Carlin Yates, former US Ambassador to Ghana.

Even though the far-reaching decisions by the G8 leaders on debt cancellation and aid have been criticised in some quarters as too little   too late - especially too late - there is no doubt that without US concurrence and support, even the "little" would have been difficult to come by.

For the governments of many of the beneficiary countries, however, debt cancellation and the promise of increased aid have come as welcome news.  Ghana was one of the 18 countries that benefited from debt cancellation the previous month and even though it had been expected, the July decision was to become another bonus.

Among these beneficiaries Ghana is considered by some as a favourite boy of the donor community. But outgoing US Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates sees things quite differently. She notes that Ghana has earned debt relief through her hard work and willingness to make and implement sound, long-term economic decisions, and by meeting the criteria for reaching the HIPC Completion Point.

 Before the Gleneagles Summit strong fears had been expressed as to whether the US was really sincere about debt relief and whether she would not merely dust up and re-present old reliefs. Ambassador Yates is, of course, dismissive of such sentiments and asserts that the Gleneagles decisions provide "100 per cent irrevocable debt stock relief," with additional donor contributions through the International Development Association and the African Development Fund. 

She notes that Ghana's participation in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) shows the confidence she has in her own progress in good governance, and her willingness to improve through open, transparent peer review.  And she hastens to add that as a leading and most consistent donor to the Ghanaian economy, the US is not influenced in her assistance programme by Ghana's, or any African country's, decision to participate in the APRM.

Mrs Mary Carlyn Yates, who ended her duty tour of Ghana in August 2005, has expressed high regard for the Ghanaian officials with whom she worked on a number of the country's macro-economic and micro-economic programmes and has no doubt in her mind that Ghana's economy has been put on the right track. 

But she says Ghana still has some "extremely difficult and complex challenges" to overcome and these include improving the investment climate, good governance and managing the vexing fuel prices. And she believes Ghana now has the best chance to attain her goal of middle income status.  As the US Ambassador closely connected to the numerous momentous economic landmarks reached at the time, Ambassador Yates must surely be in a position to make such categorical statements. She has never lost an opportunity to make an open declaration of her admiration of the Ghanaian people, their warm-heartedness and their hospitality. That, she insisted, was not just nice diplomatic talk or mere platitude, but her genuine feeling brought on from her many visits to every corner of Ghana and her interactions with officials, politicians, business people and the man in the street.

Before her appointment to Ghana, Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates was Ambassador to Burundi for three years and, prior to that, a Senior Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Paris. She began her diplomatic career in 1980 and has worked in Korea, the Philippines and at the State Department in Washington and speaks French and Korean. She is married to John Melvin Yates, a fellow Foreign Service officer who has been Ambassador to Cape Verde, Benin, Cameroun and Equatorial Guinea.  [ Back ]     read more >>