The deputy speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa while attending a conference in the Belgian capital, Brussels at the headquarters of NATO and EU organized by the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) parliament, admonished the practice by European Union (EU) member states of exporting banned pesticides and products to developing countries, and called upon ACP members to strongly speak as a team and reject the double standard arrangements.
According to Tayebwa, developing countries don’t have the capacity to take on the EU independently, noting that speaking against this with one voice gives Africans an advantage.
“We aren’t able to take on this giant (EU) independently. Even the EU didn’t do it alone, they came as a group and we should also act as a group and reject this unfairness,” said Tayebwa.
Tayebwa further echoed the need for the EU to be transparent in their dealings and treat developing countries as people who have the same red blood.
“We are all human beings. We all have red blood. You don’t have blue blood and for us, we have red blood. The milk that kills a European can kill an African. The pesticides that can cause cancer to a European can cause cancer to a Caribbean. Why are you allowing dangerous products to be manufactured in your union and be exported to other countries? Stop it,” Tayebwa stated.
He said the ACP would pass a regulation tasking the European Parliament to revise its own mechanisms on the matter.
According to the deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya Gladys Boss Shollei, trade agreement is about good faith and ensuring that it is fair for everyone.
“If the EU, and UK are allowing cancer- causing pesticides to be manufactured in their countries, exclusively to be exported to African countries, that is not an act of good faith,” she stated.
Shollei also added that the EU should stop the manufacture of these harmful chemicals that are sent to Africa and end up killing many people.