Minority sounded the doom bell on NEPAD

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) minority in Ghana’s 200-member Parliament has sounded the doom bell for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

To the very critical minority, the concept like all other ones before it, would fail because the industrialised world manipulates these concepts to their own advantage.

Minority Members of Parliament expressed the view, when they contributed to a statement by Foreign Affairs Minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, (MP) in Parliament.

MP for Ho – East, Steve Akorli, said the G8 countries knew the initiative more than Africans, who the concept was supposed to benefit and that those countries were propagating the merit of the concept more than the Africans.

"They were behaving like a sympathisers crying more than the bereaved because it is surprising that Parliament has not even seen the document which the foreigners have being talking about for almost a year now."

NDC MP for Bole-Bamboi, John Mahama, said predicated on partnership and experience has shown that the concept had never been in favour of Africa since the continent is primary producer and consumer of imported manufactured goods.

"NEPAD should not be used to raise the people's expectations too high because it does not address Africans under-development and unless those factors fundamental to the development of the continent remained unanswered it will be difficult to sustain its development," Mahama said.

Mr. Mahama also minority spokesman on Communications, said it was paradoxical that President Bush has given 180 billion dollars subsidy to American farmers making the rice cheaper on the Ghanaian market than the locally produced one. "And yet the World Bank gives us conditionalities restraining us from giving us subsidy to Ghanaian farmers."

Former Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister and a distinguished diplomat, who is also MP for Anlo, James Victor Gbeho said the partnership aspect of NEPAD was worrying since "our partners from the developed world, especially Europe and North America have failed consistently to take up their side of the bargain.

"This is a new partnership agreement but other partnerships have existed and have gone to grief. So we must ensure that the partnership that we accept now is a real one.

He said what was bringing the fear was that in the past it was noticed that the developed partners always backed away when it came to the crunch of them having to provide resources for development in Africa and other developing countries, "then they come up with new initiatives".

"The recent example was when we started winning the moral argument about the cancellation of debt, forgiveness of debt and after the meeting of Global 2000, they suddenly came up with this new idea of HIPC".

He said HIPC meant that they were now putting all their money in a fund to be controlled by the World Bank "and unless you to go the World Bank, HIPC will not benefit you."

Meanwhile, the Ghanaian Government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to co-ordinate the activities of NEPAD, to government, seeks to take Africa from political and economic doldrums.

The committee comprises the Ministries of the Foreign Affairs, Finance, Trade, Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation and that of Private Sector Development. The committee would be expanded to include other Ministries, Departments and Agencies as might be appropriate.

Mr. Owusu-Agyemang told Parliament that the committee was to ensure that Ghana's input to the initiative was properly co-ordinated to achieve maximum results. He said the UNDP has provided a consultant whose office would be in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to enable him to co-ordinate NEPAD initiative in Ghana.

"These institutional arrangements would ensure the involvement of all segments of society, including the public and private sectors, civil society and the media in the NEPAD process and to strengthen the concept of African ownership at the grassroots level."

Mr. Owusu-Agyemang said although many laudable initiatives for the development of Africa have been developed in the past such as the Lagos Plan of Action and the Abuja Treaty they did not achieve the desired objectives due to so many factors.

He said however, NEPAD promised to secure the development of the continent since it was "African developed, managed and owned; it brings the concept of new partnership; and Africa is undertaking certain commitments and obligations in its own interests, which are not externally-imposed conditions."