Africa Must Take The Lead
ISSUES of the third world countries signing the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) with the European Union is a cause for concern. This agreement - which we do not know the fine details of - needs to be published in complete and UNCENSORED form.
Firstly, I am grateful that Prime Minister Hage Geingob is against signing such a document due to the nature of the partnership which does not support development. Please correct me if I am wrong.
It is of public interest that decisions that are taken by the political leaders to involve a sovereign country when signing such documents should in fact be made public through print media so that people have a say after scrutinising the contents of these documents.
I also believe that the Law Society must get actively involved in decoding the legal jargon that comes with such documents so that the average layperson could interpret in normal language the meaning of these foreign documents/agreements.
It is a duty of such publishing companies like The Namibian to get these agreement documents from the government and send them for interpretation by the Law Society before putting both the un-deciphered and the interpreted documents in the daily newspapers for the public to see.
The government, of course, will have to pay the Law Society for interpreting the documents. That’s why we pay tax.
The reason why I am saying this is that Africans, a majority of us, especially those holding positions of power have been so naive and ignorant for centuries that the Western and European political elites have bulldozed us with their laws and agreements and made our leaders sign “or else face consequences!” .
I praise Hage for not bowing down to the demands of the EPA without considering our African point of view. During my 25 years of observing political and economic activities, I have not known of one single or a group of African countries putting together a document of agreement to establish instruments of either political or economic nature to be signed by European or Western States. It always comes from the North to South or down the flowing river. Never the other way round.
Now that Africa still remains the superpower of natural resources, I would like to see a change in the perception that Africa is a dark continent. Wake up and smell the coffee Africa.
Tangi
Via the website