Former President Benjamin Mkapa has warned African countries not to rush into signing the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) saying domestic industries will be affected and many will not survive the open market competition with Europe.

He pointed out that the side effect of EPAs is to reduce the revenue capacity of independent governments and increase dependence on the goodwill of donors (the EU) a goal which is not only untenable but excruciatingly humiliating.

Mkapa’s observation comes following growing pressure from the European countries over African countries pressing to ink the agreement before September this year. EU has gone further to threaten economic sanctions against African countries that will not sign the agreement before the set September deadline.

Giving a Public Lecture on: “EU Economic Partnership Agreements: What’s In For Africa?” Tuesday evening in Dar es Salaam and organized by the University of Dar es Salaam, the third phase president pointed out that EPAs will not support Africa in the docket of trade policy measures that it requires in order to develop.

Mkapa underscored that African countries must raise their collective voice to say: “The desire to cheat and the refusal to be cheated are the cause of the noise in the market.”
He said that the African economies will be set back for a long time to come if they choose to sign the agreement.

Mkapa cited an example of the Small Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) policy under the agreement, insisting that it will not be able to produce products that will compete with European products.

He said the EPAs are in effect ploys for ensuring that the value addition to African products continues to be located in Europe whereby the SME sector will be literally killed.

Mkapa said under the proposed EPAs, 80 percent of the African market will be opened to European goods and services “yet we surely know that their goods and services will likely to be cheaper and of better quality and in large supply”.

According to Mkapa, even if some sprinkling of icing is put on the EPAs, they will not remove the threats of profound liberalisation of the 80 percent or more and other conditions which are central to the EPAs. Mkapa described EPAs agreement as defying, dismissing and degrading many fundamental policy and development aspirations and goals of African countries.

He however added: “With the resources that African countries have, governments can find many possible ways to help the industries where preferences to the EU market will long be available so that these sectors can continue to thrive.”