Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)

OPINION September 24, 2002 Posted to the web September 26, 2002

Rabbi Samuel

HE LANDED in Accra in March 1998, four years ago, from the US Air Force One plane like an eagle set to conquer and to bring hope to the hopeless in Africa. Never in our history of the past twenty years that had experienced political and social polarization and acrimony has an event of a visiting sitting US President united Ghanaians, bringing them from all walks of life to welcome this great man called William Jefferson Clinton, now a former president of the United States of America.

Except for some alleged, or perceived or real weakness with women, ex-President Clinton would have left office as one of the greatest presidents of the United States in contemporary times, rubbing shoulders with his mentor, J.F. Kennedy. Of course, Mr. Clinton is a nice and great guy and like all great men of old and now they need to pass through what I call the 'damsel test,' courtesy Monica Lewinsky.

And here many great leaders have found it difficult to stay above board. If Mr. Clinton was a sitting president in Africa, his affair with the once intern lady would not have been an issue to worry our heads about. Africa thus provided a conduit pipe and a safe heaven from the media attack on his presidency at that time.

That gave hope for some of us to catch a glimpse of this great guy who defied all and broke the stigmatization of US presidents to visit Africa. Ghana offered an entrance, warmth, love and assurance for ex-President Clinton to set foot on Africa for the first time.

A WARM WELCOME TO GHANA

Clinton began his tour in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, where he spoke to a wildly enthusiastic crowd on the benefits of democracy, trade and justice. Some issues raised in his speech at the Independence Square are as follows:

"We want to work with Africa to nurture democracy," "Democracy must have prosperity." In references to prominent Africans and African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Clinton urged the youth of Africa to work for a brighter future and said,

"My dream for this trip is that together we might do the things such that 100 years from now your grandchildren and mine will look back and say this was the beginning of a new African renaissance." "America needs Africa and

America needs Ghana in our fight for a better future," Clinton told the crowd. He also cited genocide in Rwanda, civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo and continent wide problems of malnutrition, disease, illiteracy and unemployment, but yet praised the advance of democracy in Africa, juxtaposing that with a reference to then "military dictatorship in Nigeria" and called on African leaders to "Stop the Killing" of their own people.

"The Cold War is gone. Colonialism is gone. Apartheid is gone. Yet remnants of past troubles remain," Clinton said, expressing hope that Africa one day would leave behind its infighting and wars.

WHY A LEGEND

President Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a traffic accident. When he was four years old, his mother wed Roger Clinton, of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

In high school, he took the family name. He excelled as a student and as a saxophone player and once considered becoming a professional musician. As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, he met President John Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden.

The encounter led him to enter a life of public service. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University and in 1968 won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He received a law degree from Yale University in 1973, and entered politics in Arkansas.

He was defeated in his campaign for Congress in Arkansas' Third District in 1974. The next year he married Hillary Rodham, a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. In 1980, Chelsea, their only child, was born. Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976, and won the governorship in 1978.

After losing a bid for a second term, he regained the office four years later, and served until he defeated incumbent George Bush and third party candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential race. Clinton and his running mate, Tennessee's Senator Albert Gore Jr., then 44, represented a new generation in American political leadership.

For the first time in 12 years both the White House and Congress were held by the same party. But that political edge was brief; the Republicans won both houses of Congress in 1994.

In 1998, as a result of issues surrounding personal indiscretions with a young woman, a White House intern, Clinton was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

He was tried in the Senate and found not guilty of the charges brought against him. He apologized to the nation for his actions and continued to have unprecedented popular approval ratings for his job as president.

In the world, he successfully dispatched peace keeping forces to war-torn Bosnia and bombed Iraq when Saddam Hussein stopped United Nations inspections for evidence of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He became a global proponent for an expanded NATO, more open international trade, and a worldwide campaign against drug trafficking.

He drew huge crowds when he travelled through South America, Europe, Russia, Africa, and China, advocating U.S. style freedom. His success politically stemmed from what he believed in 1991 when he formulated what he felt was a powerful critique of the economy and the values of former US Presidents Reagan and Bush just when President Bush had won the Persian Gulf War and driven Saddam out of Kuwait.

The cost to the American economy led to recession and here Clinton felt the real problems of national security were at home in the struggles of average people who lived in fear for their jobs, their health care, the educational opportunities of their children, their homes and neighborhoods and their retirement.

Clinton rightly recognized that these are the battles to be fought and he fought these with ideas, strategies, will and the courage to succeed. During the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, the U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well-being than at any other time in its history.

Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. He could point to the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country' s history, dropping crime rates in many places, and reduced welfare roles.

He proposed the first balanced budget in decades and achieved a budget surplus. As part of a plan to celebrate the millennium in the year 2000, Clinton called for a great national initiative to end racial discrimination. After the failure in his second year of a huge programme of health care reform, Clinton shifted emphasis, declaring "the era of big government is over."

He sought legislation to upgrade education, to protect jobs of parents who must care for sick children, to restrict handgun sales, and to strengthen environmental rules. As rightly captured during his first visit to Ghana, former President Rawlings in his welcome speech said, "This continent is ready and very able to do business in this world.

By allowing individuals to flourish, our communities and nations would also flourish." HIS SECOND COMING At his second coming, former President Clinton would arrive in the country as head of an international NGO committed to work for the poor in Africa and would follow closely his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, all Southern Democrats, who after living office become great assets to the world.

To what extent then can we put to use the minds of these great men, such as Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan, who as achievers in their own rights, can help resolve some of the serious issues of poverty plaguing and confronting the country and the continent?

He would be meeting and talking to President Kufuor, a new president in the country and affectionately called the "silent giant" who is committed to offer Ghana what Good Governance is. Probably Mr. Bill Clinton would and must meet the ex-President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, his friend, and possibly share notes on what it is to leave the oval office and the castle and how best to put their energies at the disposal of the poor of the world.

It would then interest former leaders of Africa that since former President Clinton left office, he has earned $9.6 million for giving 60 speeches. And he is even earning more money than when he was a president. Before he became president of the United States ex-President Clinton was never paid $35,000 a year.

Today, the situation is different. Any time Clinton gives a speech, dollar falls on his toes. In one lucrative spree in the British Isles last December, for example, he was paid $133,000 a day by the Jewish National Fund for three days in a row, during which Clinton gave speeches in Glasgow, Manchester and London.

Clinton capped that off with a fourth speech to the London School of Economics for $28,100, and a final address on the fifth day of his trip to the British Broadcasting Corporation for $75, 000. Bill Clinton and his wife, after leaving office in January 2001, managed to earn more than $12 million from speaking fees and a book deal last year.

Since this century would witness a lot of former presidents in Africa and in Ghana, in particular, speech giving, only if it can bring benefit to mankind and society, could be a lucrative venture worth considering for current and would be former presidents of Africa to investing their energies into but not those "boom" type of speeches, courtesy "asumasie" with all apologies.

With this, I welcome the former ex-President of the United States of America, Mr. Bill Clinton to Ghana, and a country known for its great richness in gold, cocoa, bauxite and people who are very educated, intelligent are creative and have an enviable trade mark in being hospitable yet remain HIPC and would seriously not refuse any offer.

Welcome to Ghana.

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2002