CSOs: Kenya bullied into signing treaty
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation | Nov 20, 2007
CSOs: Kenya bullied into signing treaty
Written By: Judith Akolo
Civil Society Organizations now say that the East and Southern African negotiators and civil servants who attended the Economic Partnership Agreements meeting in Brussels, Belgium were bullied into a midnight deal with the European Union.
In a statement, Civil Society Organisations say that East African countries stand to lose 162.5 million dollars every year in government revenue from signing the Economic Partnership Agreements EPA.
Producers of manufactured goods, from sunflower oil to tin foil now stand to lose colossal amounts of revenue through the arrangement, they claim.
They said it was unacceptable for countries like Kenya and Ghana to be lumped together with the Pacific countries on issues of manufacturing and trade.
Ruthpearl Ng’ang’a of ACORD International said the move to sign the agreement will have a negative impact on the region’s development.
Econews’ Peter Aoga claimed the move to withdraw civil-society organizations from debate on EPAs, threats to hike tariffs on imports by the EU on goods destined for the European Union and blanket funding of African EPA negotiators influenced the decision by civil servants to enter into a pact the African continent can ill afford.
Econews is now hoping to find a separate avenue through which countries in the ESA region that include Kenya can go round the matter without jeopardizing trade with the EU.
The CSOs are against the arrangement as it means the liberalisation of 80 per cent of the local market to imports from the EU.
They said the arrangement is tantamount to signing away the bargaining power of the importing countries.
The organizations are blaming Trade and Industry Minister Dr Mukhisa Kituyi for reviewing his position on the EPAs.
They said the Minister seems to have bowed to pressure from the EU to change his stand against the EPAs.
The deal signed last week exempted Kenya from signing the Economic Partnership Agreement for another year.
Under the new arrangement Kenya and other East African Community states will continue to enjoy free access into the European Union market for all products except sugar and rice upto December next year.
