Decide on foreign policy strategy first before you take side in Russian-Ukraine conflict – ASEPA to govt

In the spate of this Russian-Ukrainian crisis which is sharply dividing the World between the West and Russia it’s only history that must be our guide.
There are verified cables of the President of Ghana and our Representative at the UN wildly taking sides in the conflict and publicly condemning Putin…we must call on Government to press the brakes!!

First of all, what is Ghana’s foreign policy strategy and focus?
Until we answer this correctly, any move which takes side in this conflict would be premature, un-calculated and counter-productive.

Secondly it wasn’t for no reason that Dr.Kwame Nkrumah our first President took a neutral and non-alliance posture post independence.
It was still America and it’s Western Allies against the Soviet Union after the Second World War competing for supremacy and dominance.

When Nkrumah wanted to build the Akosombo dam, the Americans were playing games with Ghana with the funding, Nkrumah quickly approached the United Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) who quickly accepted to fund the project without any hesitation.

The Americans realizing that the Soviets providing the funding for the Akosombo dam would tilt Nkrumah towards the Soviets and considering how influential Ghana was in assisting other African Countries to gain their independence, Socialism or communism could easily spread like wild fire as the Soviets through Ghana could potentially poach all independent states who already had a strong animosity towards the West because of excesses of Colonialism…this was what brought Queen Elizabeth to Ghana for the first time as queen, to convince Nkrumah to dump the Soviets, she would speak with the Americans to provide the funds for the Akosombo dam asap.

The Queen had a daunting task but she succeeded, after all she was the Queen of England, it’s not easy to say No to her Majesty plus a majestic dance with Dr.Kwame Nkrumah at a state ball organized in her honor was enough to seal the purpose of the trip.
Immediately she left, the Americans provided the funds for the Akosombo dam and it was provided under Nkrumah’s own terms because he was negotiating from a position of strength.

This non-alliance posture Nkrumah took did not only bring funding for so many important ground breaking projects for the young and growing Ghana who was determined to flourish, but also made Ghana a powerful player in the comity on Nations, those were the days of National pride and impressive sovereignty.
Everyone was lobbying Ghana, Ghana was a shining example to Independent African Nations and most importantly peace and stability prevailed.

Nkrumah’s policy was that Ghana would NOT be aligned to the east or west, but anyone helping us to succeed is the one we will call a friend.
What is Ghana gaining from taking sides in the current global geopolitics?
A few bucks??
Who are we trying to please?
Our people or the West?

The fundamental question still remains what our Foreign Policy Strategy is?
Until we answer that to the satisfaction of ordinary Ghanaians and state actors our President, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and our Ambassador to the United Nations must shush on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis!!