Anti-GMO group: IMF bailout could be tied to plant breeders’ bill

Anti-GMO group, Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG), says any expected programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help Ghana’s economy bounce back, may be hinged on the passage of the plant breeders’ bill.

“IMF funds are almost certainly being held hostage waiting for passage of the Plant Breeders Bill," the group said in a statement signed by Chairperson, Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah.

The Government of Ghana, recently, ended initial round of talks with the Bretton Wood Institution for a programme to lend credibility to the West African country’s economic policies.

The Mahama administration approached the IMF following a streak of economic problems, including a near 40 percent slump in the value of the local currency–Cedi.

Currently, however, the Cedi is gaining value against the Dollar and other major international currencies of trade.

Economists have put the rise in the Cedi’s value down to the government’s issuance of a $1b Eurobond–which was oversubscribed–as well as a $1.7b cocoa syndicated loan–which together infused nearly $3b into the former British colony’s economy–thus reducing demand for the dollar, and consequently, helping the Cedi gain value.

The programme from the IMF is also expected to further shore up the Cedi’s strength. FSG, however, says the Fund could feed on Ghana’s predicament to railroad parliament into passing the plant breeders’ bill.

The group also says: “We know from the experience of other countries that Millennium Challenge Account payments are tied to GMOs and GMO-related bills, such as our Plant Breeders Bill. We know promised money may be withheld from Ghana pending the coerced passage of the bill”.

FSG believes Ghana’s Legislature is being “blackmailed” by international agencies and Western countries to pass the controversial bill in its current state.

“We have every reason to believe that Parliament is being blackmailed by USAID and the G8/G7 whose intention is to advance the interests of their agribusiness Trans National Corporations, TNCs."

“Their tool is the G8 New Alliance, G8NA. They clearly do not care about Ghana”, FSG said.

According to the group, “some MPs claim, or have been misled to believe, that Ghana must pass the UPOV-bill as it stands, to be in compliance with the World Trade Organization,(WTO). This is NOT the case. We do not need to be part of UPOV. Developing countries such as Ghana have full rights under the WTO to pass their own sui generis bill. This simply means that Ghana can design a bill that will meet the specific needs of our country and protect Ghanaian farmers and Ghanaian plant breeders”.