Kenyan farmers seek to block EPA

NAIROBI – Small-scale Kenyan farmers went to court yesterday to try to stop a controversial new trade deal with the European Union that they said perpetuated a “master-servant” relationship with their former colonisers.

They believe that if new tariff systems proposed in the pact – known as an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) – are implemented at least 300 000 Kenyans would lose their jobs. “The anticipated EPAs will (perpetuate) a master-servant relationship because we continue to be producers of primary goods and commodities,” said Kenyan lawyer James Orengo, who filed the case against the government on behalf of the farmers and the Kenya Human Rights Commission.Kenya and 80 other African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have enjoyed preferential trade access to the EU.But the World Trade Organisation says those rules have to be changed to establish a new free trade regime before January 1 2008.The proposed EPAs would open up ACP markets to European goods and services.Analysts say this could spell doom for the region’s infant industries and economies, and the negotiation of the deals has been a contentious subject in many nations.Nampa-Reuters”The anticipated EPAs will (perpetuate) a master-servant relationship because we continue to be producers of primary goods and commodities,” said Kenyan lawyer James Orengo, who filed the case against the government on behalf of the farmers and the Kenya Human Rights Commission.Kenya and 80 other African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have enjoyed preferential trade access to the EU.But the World Trade Organisation says those rules have to be changed to establish a new free trade regime before January 1 2008.The proposed EPAs would open up ACP markets to European goods and services.Analysts say this could spell doom for the region’s infant industries and economies, and the negotiation of the deals has been a contentious subject in many nations.Nampa-Reuters