NUGS Protests at rush to HIPC

The Ghanaian Times reports that the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has expressed its dissatisfaction with the government's decision to join the HIPC initiative.

At press conference in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Frank Annoh- Dompreh, the National president said the union was disappointed that the government took the decision without the necessary consultations and national consensus since the initiative was a major issue affecting the nation. He advised the government not to allow the country to be treated as an "economic laboratory" where all kinds of economic policies were experimented.

Mr Annoh-Dompreh also advised government officials not to allow personal gains to override their sense of discernment and judgement adding that the interest of Ghanaians should prevail at all times.

"The union is convinced beyond the stretch of every imagination that HIPC is nothing different from the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) dictated by the World Bank and the IMF which caused economic woes to the country's economy for years" he stated.

NUGS he explained believed that the stigmas HIPC would put on the image of the country alone was enough for the government to have shied away from it adding that the bid being spearheaded by the World Bank, IMF and Britain was a disguised attempt to further deepen the economic woes of the nation.