Who works the World Bank and the International Monetary Funds (the IMF) for ?

The recent case of Ghana

In our n° 86 of ABC Burkina, we already spoke about the perverse effects of the imports at low prices of frozen chickens, even of the pieces of chicken (what one calls the dumping). The example was taken in Cameroon. We gave this information: "Between 1994 and 2003, 90 000 tons of frozen chickens entered to Cameroon, involving escapes of currencies quantified to 70 billion francs CFA, the closing of 92% of the existing farms in the country, and the loss of 110 000 rural and urban employment."

With that, we added: "Far from being specific to Cameroon, this situation affects several countries of West Africa and of Central Africa (Senegal, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of, etc.)"

Today, we will look at what occurs to Ghana.

Confronted with the same problems, the Ghanaian Parliament voted a law to protect its poultry's production. The law was to reintroduce taxes with the importation. These taxes were to apply to the imported pieces of chicken which are the subject of a dumping. It was thus a question of being protected from an injustice. However this law was isolated. The President of Ghana underwent pressures of the World Bank and of the International Monetary Funds (the IMF) and he did not dare to promulgate the law.

The vulnerability of the ACP countries (countries of Africa, of the Caribbean and the Pacific), which are confronted with the processes of liberalization launched by the World Bank and the IMF, appears clearly in the light of this experiment of Ghana's poultry's sector. It is time for the politicians and the producers of these countries to learn from it by reinforcing their unit and by having courage to exceed the pressures of the World Bank, of the IMF, but also of the European Union.

To finish, we want to place this event in the context of the negotiations of Cotonou. Europe seeks to sign agreements of free trade with the ACP countries: these agreements are called Accords of Economic Partnership (AEP). The countries of the ECSWA (the Economic Community of the States of West Africa) must develop an effective strategy if they do not want to be made eat by Europe which has powerful allies such as WTO (the World Trade Organisation), the World Bank and the IMF. They will require surely for the support of their peasants and the majority of their civil companies if they want that their interests are truly taken into account.

Maurice Oudet, Koudougou, 
September 22^nd, 2004