Why did President Obama choose Ghana as his Africa destination?

The press has barely been able to contain their excitement over President Obama’s trip to Africa. Their glee is understandable. America’s first black president is returning to the land in which his ancestors were born. The story is beautiful — poetic, really. But what few people are asking is, “Why Ghana?”

One of the few news sources to pose this question, Democracy Now, proposed the answer may have something to do with the recent discovery of oil in Ghana. A quarter of US oil imports are expected to come from West Africa by 2015, according to estimates by the National Intelligence Council. That could explain why Obama chose Ghana over, say, his father’s homeland of Kenya.

…in 2007, the UK firm Tullow Oil announced the discovery of 600 million barrels of light oil offshore from Ghana. Reporter Njei Moses Timah stated the obvious, “China and the United States are not going to fold their arms and allow Ghana to quietly enjoy the proceeds of the over $40 billion worth of oil (less exploration and production costs) that has been discovered.”

Smirking Chimp