Ghanaians demonstrated maturity-Israeli Ambassador

Ghana has demonstrate again to the world that it is a country that has accepted democracy as part of its culture, the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sharon Bah-Li has said.

“Ghanaians have demonstrated that democracy is part of their lifestyle and their culture,” she stated.

She noted that there was no question about the country’s belief in democracy anymore as the electoral system was not in the hands of the government but in the hands of the people.

Ghana went to the polls on December 7 to elect a President and 275 parliamentarians. After the declaration of results, which had the imcumbent John Dramani Mahama winning, the opposition New Patriotic Party, is hearding to court to challenge the results.

The Ambassador observed that while there was political tension and dedicated support for the respective candidates in the elections, the matured nature of the Ghanaian society just like in other jurisdictions meant that in Ghana“people agree to disagree”.

She said her expectation from the election was that whichever candidate won whether in the first or second round, the next government would be formed without any problems.

“Ghana has shown  time and again that it was committed to democracy and the rule of law,” she stated.

A fact, she said was aptly demonstrated in the smooth transition of power to President John Dramani Mahama hours after the death of President J.E.A Mills.

Ambassador Bar-Li expressed Israel’s commitment to bilateral and economic ties between the two countries.

She said Israel commitment was demonstrated in the recent sod-cutting for the construction of a 600-bed teaching hospital for the University of Ghana expected to cost $217 million.

The project, she said was a great statement of trust both in the Ghana economy and the governance system.

According to her, “no country would invest such an amount of money in a place that is not politically stable and where there are question marks about the ability of the government to maintain commitment. That is not the case of Ghana.”

On the bilateral front, she said Ghana the future was bright for relationship between the two countries.

She said governments come and go but the foundations of the relationship was between people adding that there were so many bridges between citizens of the two countries.

Ghana was the first black African country to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel in 1957.

 The two countries maintained resident ambassadors in each country for close to 15 years (1958-1973) until Ghana broke diplomatic relations with Israel in compliance with an Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) Resolution enjoining all members to do so in the wake of the Yom Kippur war in 1973.

The Yom Kippur War of 973 started with a surprise Arab attack on Israel on Saturday 6th October 1973. On this day, Egyptian and Syrian military forces launched an attack knowing that the military of Israel would be participating in the religious celebrations associated with Yom Kippur. Therefore, their guard would temporarily be dropped.

But after years of frosty relations, Ghana and Israel on August 9, 1994 signed a joint communique and announced simultaneously in Tel Aviv and Accra the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with effect from that date.

However, steps taken by the two countries to revive their diplomatic relations were sealed in September, 2011 with the posting of Ms Bar-Li to Ghana as an Ambassador after three decades.

Israel’s economic, social and political footprints are numerous. In April, 1959, Israel, with help from India, supervised the establishment of the Ghana Air Force. It had also been involved in agricultural projects, water engineering schemes, the building of sewage systems, establishing the Black Star Line Shipping Company, and the training of Ghanaian pilots.

While trade volumes between the two countries are not in the margins of Ghana’s traditional trade partners, Israel’s investments in Ghana has increased over the years.

Currently, Israeli private investments in Ghana are about $400 million, while Israel’s governmental Foreign Credit Insurance Corporation (ASHRA) has 25 per cent of its total international exposure to Ghana.

The chains of investments are in the areas of agriculture, water management, communications, energy infrastructure and security.

On the educational front, the ambassador said Israel had over the last three years been supporting early childhood development training in Ghana and that some 125 teachers in the Ashanti Region and Greater regions were beneficiaries.

To further enhance the, project, she said the Embassy was in talks with the Ghana Education Service for the expansion of the project to the Northern Region and possible the entire country.

She gave indications that Israel was willing to partner Ghana in the development of the agriculture and the sharing of knowledge in sectors including renewable energy.