[ 2017-01-04 ]

Tread cautiously – IMANI to Akufo-Addo

The incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) government
must act with circumspection regarding calls by
groups for the abrogation of the Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Ghana and
European Union (EU), Franklin Cudjoe, the
president of policy think tank IMANI Ghana, has
said.

According to him, it would be suicidal for the
NPP, which prides itself on private sector and
market-oriented policies, to be swayed by
“populist advice”.

The Government of Ghana in August 2016 signed an
interim Economic Partnership Agreement with the
EU. This was after the Economic Community of West
African States delayed its decision to sign the
EPA in its current form. The European Union gave
West African states a deadline of November 2016 to
sign the agreement or pay duties on exports to the
European market.

Signing of the agreement has granted exporters in
Europe duty-free access to African markets, except
for rice and sugar.

Some groups were of the view that this agreement
would collapse indigenous companies, therefore
should be reviewed.

For instance, Mr Kingsley Offei-Nkansah,
Deputy-General Secretary of the General
Agriculture Workers' Union (GAWU), at a three-day
regional workshop on trade and security in West
Africa immediately after the agreement was signed,
said: "It (EPA) also means the dumping of cheap
products, especially, agricultural products that
are extremely subsidised, on our markets and
destroying the livelihood of majority of the
population.”

But Mr Cudjoe has warned the incoming government
to be cautious in dealing with this issue.

He wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday
January 4: “The incoming NPP administration
should be careful listening to groups suggesting
abrogation or review of the already ratified
Economic Partnership Agreement between Ghana and
the EU.

“The Private Enterprise Foundation should
provide sound economic arguments rather than
resort to populist approaches to evidence. It will
be suicidal for the NPP that boasts of private
sector and market-oriented policies to be swayed
by populist advice.”

Source - classfmonline

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