An International Relations Analyst, Dr. Yaw Gebe has described as unfortunate and unacceptable, the conduct of participants at the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) forum in Accra on Thursday.
European Union Representative in Ghana, Claude Maerten was heckled by participants at the forum designed to iron out issues regarding the EPA.
The EU representative was prevented from speaking when he was introduced to respond to concerns raised by some participants of the forum.
But speaking on the issue on Eyewitness News, Mr. Gebe criticized the participants’ untoward behaviour saying, “I find the whole development as unfortunate; I earlier listened to the programme and I thought that this was an appropriate forum for representatives of the private sector and government to dialogue and reach a common understanding but the way it ended is not acceptable.”
He further stated that one major cause of the heckling can also be blamed on Ghana’s consistent reliance on external parties.
“Developing countries such as Ghana are not able to achieve development target objectives without necessarily bringing in external bodies such as the European Union and that is one major challenge facing the country,” he explained.
The EPA has seen intense debate in the country with civil society groups like the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Economic Justice Network and Third World Network all pushing for its objection.
The civil society groups are arguing that the EPA will present more challenges than benefits.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana