Ghanaians must reject EPA - Pratt

Veteran Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has underscored the need for Ghana to repudiate the European Union’s(EU) Economic Partnership Agreement(EPA).

At the moment Ghana’s parliament has ratified the EPA between government and the European Union (EU).

Government earlier signed onto the agreement (interim) but was awaiting ratification from Parliament as stipulated in the country’s laws in relation to international agreements.

The ratification of the agreement by Parliament paves way for the entry of a percentage of imports from Europe to Africa and vice versa, free of tariffs.

But speaking on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji programme Saturday, Mr. Pratt also the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper said the EPA’s are huge threats to business, farmers, consumers, and to the industrialization drive of the country urging that the Ghanaian economy cut ties with the EPA.

He said local producers are practically burdened with so much imports to survive the market, hence there should be a renewed call on Ghanaians to reject the EPA and the strictness tied with its subscription.

“…That is why some of us have been insisting very strongly that it is time to say goodbye to the EPA and all the strictness it imposes on our people and so on.”

Highlighting on the National Farmers Day celebration that was marked Friday, November, 4 across the country, Pratt said the yearly event could only be relevant only to the extent that it focuses attention on the problems within the agric sector and how to deal with the problems.

“What the National Farmers Day ought to do is to give us one day in the 365 days to focus attention on what is it that are the problems confronting agriculture and how to deal with the problems in there, he stated.

“I still don’t understand why we import fish. There can be no good reason for the importation of fish. If you consider the fact that we have such a huge river – like the Volta river, If you consider the fact that we are bordered in the south by the Atlantic ocean, and if you consider the fact that we have so many water bodies there should be no reason for the importation of fish, he bemoaned.

For him, the storage facilities along the coast being built by government is very important for sustaining the development of fishing industry in the country.