In Sierra Leone, Civil Society Dialogue Forum on EPA Ends
Awareness Times, Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, Civil Society Dialogue Forum on EPA Ends
By Bampia J. Bundu
2 April 2009
The Africa Youth Coalition Against Hunger - Sierra Leone (AYCAH-SL), Civil Society Movement (CSM) in collaboration with Action Aid International, on 30th March 2009 concluded a one-day Dialogue Forum on Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), at the British Council Auditorium in Freetown.
In his address, the National President of AYCHA-SL, Peter Amara, disclosed that it has taken two years since civil society organizations in Sierra Leone embarked on the campaign to stop the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), as currently designed and being negotiated between the European Union and ACP groups of countries.
He said the campaign is based on the grounds that in their current form, the EPAs are essentially free-trade agreements between unequal parties.
He therefore called on the government to think properly before appending its signature to such an agreement which might not be in the interest of the people, adding that Sierra Leone is not that developed to adopt such an agreement.
He suggested instead that the government wait for at least twenty five years more, saying things might have changed for the better by then.
Mr. Amara encouraged all civil society organizations to join hands together, in order to lobby parliamentarians not to adhere to the policies of the EPAs. He concluded by expressing disappointment over the way and manner in which government officials boycotted the dialogue forum, even though the Minister of Trade and Industry, David Carew was duly invited to deliver the keynote address, and his deputy to deliver the closing remarks.
Speaking with the Chairman of the National Coalition on Economic Partnership Agreement -Sierra Leone (NaCEPA-SL), Festus Mina, shortly after the forum, he noted that various civil society organizations across the country took part in the dialogue forum in a bid to chat the way forward on the EPA.
He said the forum ended in the adoption by the various members present, of the Miatta Declaration on the EPA on the 28th-29th March 2009 in Freetown.
Mr. Minah added that during the dialogue forum, they came up with series of recommendations geared towards drawing government’s attention to the elements that might help Sierra Leone and other ECOWAS member states move forward with this difficult agenda in the remaining time available, adding that some of the recommendations that were agreed upon were that: government in collaboration with NaCEPA undertake a nationwide consultation on the EPAs to get the views and concerns of the entire citizenry and that the government should produce a clear and transparent stance on the EPA before going to the June 2009 meeting.
The recommendations clearly warned against rushing into the EPA
