Ghana’s National Security Minister Albert Kan-Dapaah is in Washington with a Ghanaian delegation as Security threats to Coastal West Africa continue to escalate.

According to a joint statement released by both governments, the United States and Ghana convened a joint security dialogue on October 3, 2024 with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell leading the U.S delegation holding talks with the and Ghanaian officials based on international peace and security while exploring areas for further security collaboration, including how to advance the Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability in Coastal West Africa. 

“The U.S.-Ghanaian partnership recognizes the importance of our shared values of democracy, prosperity, security, and respect for human rights to promote stability and sustainable development.”

The statement noted. It also added that the United States and Ghana expressed a desire to build on this foundational relationship in the coming months to prevent conflict and promote inclusive economic growth. 

Both sides welcomed greater U.S.-Ghana security cooperation to address the evolving regional violent extremist threats and affirmed the importance of integrating security efforts with broader activities to strengthen governance, development, and social cohesion in vulnerable areas.  “Concerned about the potential for information manipulation as a transnational security threat, the United States and Ghana agreed to strengthen cooperation to combat mis- and dis-information”.

 The United States also announced additional support to respond to the recent drought in Ghana. Ghana’s Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has disclosed that farmers in eight regions affected by the ongoing dry spell have incurred losses of approximately GH₵3.5 billion in investment.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, August 26, he further highlighted that these farmers face a potential revenue loss of GH₵10.4 billion. The affected regions are Bono, Bono East, Oti, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, and Upper West regions. According to him, as of 20th August, 435,872 farmers cultivating an estimated area of 871,745 hectares have been directly affected by the dry spell, adding that maize, rice, groundnut, soybean, sorghum, millet and yam are the most widely affected crops across these regions.

“The affected farmers have lost an estimated investment of GHS 3.5 billion with a corresponding potential revenue loss of GHS10.4 billion,” he stated. He indicated that the dry spell poses a serious threat to food security, as these regions contribute about 62% of Ghana’s grain supply”.