Obama Arrives in Ghana for Visit

President Obama told African countries on Friday that the legacy of colonialism was not an excuse for failing to build prosperous, democratic societies even as he leaned on the world’s richest nations to come up with billions of dollars more to feed the hungry.

Photo: Obama Arrives in Ghana for Visit

Just hours before he arrived here to begin his first trip as president to sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Obama made a personal appeal to other leaders of the Group of 8 powers meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, for larger donations to the aid effort, citing his own family’s experiences in Kenya. As a result, the initiative grew from $15 billion over three years, which was pledged coming into the summit meeting, to $20 billion, reports New York Times.

Over 5,000 Africans have sent text messages to US President Barack Obama ahead of his much anticipated speech in Ghana Saturday during his first visit to the continent since taking office.

Macon Phillips, director of new media at the White House, told AFP that the initiative was part of an ongoing effort to make Obama's speech and activities in Africa as accessible as possible to those living on the continent.

The American government invited people to send questions via text, Facebook and Twitter from July 3.