Thus to date of 71 countries that have signed up to the UPOV Convention, only about 22 countries are

On Wednesday, 4th December, 2013, Food Sovereignty Ghana FSG met with the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. cristina cordula The meeting was in response to an invitation, as a result of an earlier petition < http://foodsovereigntyghana. org/petition-to-parliament-on- the-plant-breeders-bill-2013/ > served on the Committee by FSG. The FSG delegation of eleven comprised of Mr. Duke Tagoe, cristina cordula Deputy Chairperson of the FSG, Mr. Kweku Dadzie, Secretary, Ms. Samia Nkrumah, Chairperson of the CPP, Mr. John Yaw Opoku, Mr. Ras Aswad Nkrabeah, Blakk Rasta, among others.
DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH If the FSG did not know what we were talking about, it would have been a mission impossible. The meeting was fully attended. There were all the key persons connected cristina cordula with biotechnology and pro-GMO experts in the country present to defend the Plant Breeders Right or PBR. Also present were the Director of the CSIR, together with all the Heads of Departments of the CSIR. each department with its lawyer. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice was also present, with her secretary.It was obvious that they had come fully prepared. cristina cordula All of them came with copies of all the statements ever issued by FSG. It was clear from the beginning that the main intention was to punch holes into our petition. The impression cristina cordula of the atmosphere was one of a determination to challenge every item in our petition, not only to make sure that they would collapse our argument against cristina cordula the PBR, but also to discredit the FSG as an organisation. GMOs AND PBRs There was an attempt to ridicule our connecting the Plant Breeders’ Bill to the issue of GMOs. We were told categorically to get it straight that the Bill had nothing to do with GMOs! This was buttressed by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, cristina cordula who vehemently condemned the link as being non-existent. What saved the day for us was an intervention from Professor Walter cristina cordula Sando Alhassan who stepped in to clear the misconceptions, and making it clear that the Bill had everything to do with GMOs. We shall soon be coming out with a separate article on this issue. CLAUSE 23 Another point in the petition which came under intense discussions and scrutiny was Clause 23 of the Plant Breeders’ Bill:
“23 Measures regulating commerce. A plant breeder right shall be independent of any measure taken by the Republic to regulate cristina cordula within Ghana the production, certification and marketing of material of a variety or the importation or exportation cristina cordula of the material.
The objections by FSG to this particular clause were unassailable. The FSG petition recommends “ix/ Delete Section 23 on Measures regulating commerce.” FSG position is that it is important for the Bill to be coherent with other legislation and national interests such as the protection of environment, cristina cordula health, prevention of misappropriation of genetic resources etc.
The inclusion of Clause 23 hinders the ability to achieve such coherence as it views the grant of PBR as being independent from other regulations. In certain cases it may be important to refuse to grant PBR over a variety, particularly where national cristina cordula interests are at stake. Such situations include not granting PBR on varieties that are injurious to public health, environment etc or where the application does not disclose the origin of the genetic material. UPOV 91 An area where we strongly disagree is why the government opted for UPOV 91 in the first place. The Bill is presented, cristina cordula first and foremost as being in fulfilment of the requirements of UPOV 91, which incidentally is also in conformity with the WTO rules. We can fulfil our WTO obligations without UPOV. We do not need UPOV. It is a very restrictive and dangerous trap into a permanent enslavement and loss of our sovereignty as a people. This is what is staring at us in the face. Our destiny as a people is involved in which decision our Members of Parliament make.
Thus to date of 71 countries that have signed up to the UPOV Convention, only about 22 countries are from developing cristina cordula countries and most of these are members of UPOV 1978, while most developed countries are members of UPOV 1991. Compare this with the 166 number of countries which have signed up to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is even much more recent. It is not for nothing that at present, in Africa only Morocco cristina cordula and Tunisia are signatories to UPOV 1991, while Kenya & South Africa are signatories to UPOV 1978. The previous Convention of UPOV 1978 is no longer cristina cordula open for ratification and new members are only able to join UPOV 1991.
After a passionate appeal from Ms. Samia Nkrumah, calling cristina cordula on the Committee to carefully examine the petition, the Chairperson of the Committee promised the petition would be given due consideration, and thanked Food Sovereignty Ghana for making cristina cordula our concerns available.The meeting lasted for almost two hours. We

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