[ 2014-04-18 ]

EU rep, Maerten, hounded out of EPA forum
Civil society groups on Thursday, heckled the
EU’s representative in Ghana, Claude Maerten,
when he attempted contributing to a discussion on
the Economic Partnership Agreements at a
state-organised forum.

The heckling was led by Executive Director of the
Third World Network, Dr. Yao Graham, who is a
staunch anti-EPA crusader.

The disgruntled civil society groups and irate
audience said they didn’t understand why Mr
Maerten should have been present at a national
event of that nature since he represents the EU.

Moderator of the forum, financial analyst Sydney
Casely Hayford repeatedly pleaded for calm and
decorum but to no avail. “This is not a rowdy
forum…hold on a second…just hold your
horses,” screamed Mr Casely Hayford in a frantic
attempt to restore calm at the forum.

The fracas prompted and intervention from trade
and industry minister Haruna Iddrisu who said:
“We are having a stakeholder forum…it’s a
national forum…it doesn’t mean that we cannot
reach out to other international stakeholders…I
think it’s only fair that we hear each
other.”

Mr Maerten was eventually denied the opportunity
to contribute to the discussion at the Accra
International Conference Centre.

A lot of civil society organisations in Ghana are
staunchly opposed to the signing of the EPAs. They
argue that it will be to the detriment of Africa.

The Economic Partnership Agreements allow Ghana
and other African Caribbean Pacific countries who
sign it, to have 100 percent access to the
European market, except for rice and sugar, while
EU countries will have 75 percent access to the
Ghanaian market duty free and quota free.

According to the UN Economic Commission, Ghana
would lose about 300 million dollars in revenue if
we signed the EPA.

Source - Radio XYZ

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