KING IN THE DARK WHY COUNTRY LOST AGOA

LUDZIDZINI – His Majesty King Mswati III has said he was still in the dark on why the country was removed as a beneficiary of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA).

America President Barack Obama announced the removal of the country from AGOA, which benefits suppliers of apparel goods exported by qualifying Sub-Saharan states.

About two weeks ago, His Majesty was in Washington DC to engage in talks with the AGOA team. On his return from the US-Africa Leaders Summit yesterday, the King disclosed that he met with a high-powered delegation inclusive of the Secretary of Trade in that country.
“We wanted to find out more about the country’s position following the stance taken by America to remove us from AGOA without a clear explanation.

“I had hoped I would be briefed on how they came to the conclusion of removing us,” he said.
Knowing that most Swazis were employed in textile firms, His Majesty said it was prudent to enquire about the latest development.
He said they had hoped a solution would be found.

“When we engaged them, they pointed out that the country should meet five benchmarks,” he said. This statement by the Americans surprised the King, he said when addressing journalists at the Ludzidzini Royal Residence.

“I then reminded them that at inception of AGOA, the country was not part of the beneficiaries because it had to implement certain benchmarks.
“One of the issues was that our Industrial Act was not in order. We then requested that the Americans provide us with experts. They did.
“The country worked closely with the experts in drafting the law. Their experts advised that we should consult with other legal minds.

“That is when we consulted ILO (International Labour Organisation) who provided experts which led to the drafting of the law,” the king recalled. His Majesty mentioned that the draft was passed on to the Americans to peruse and further made inputs.
“This led to us to ask, ‘but you were part of the process, what has changed now?’ I did not get a clear response,” he said.
Furthermore, His Majesty wondered why the Americans included the Suppression of Terrorism Act as part of the benchmarks because the issue was brought to the table by them.

He recounted that soon after the September 11, 2001 incident, the American President said: ‘You are either with us or with the terrorists.’
Following that statement, His Majesty said most countries sympathised with the Americans.

“Natsi sakhetsa kutsi sitawuba nema Merika (We also decided that we will side with the American government),” the King said.
And at the advice of the then American Ambassador, His Majesty pointed out that the country decided to formulate the Suppression of the Terrorism Act.

“He mentioned that if we did not have such an Act in place, we might at some point lose AGOA. We then sat down with the Americans to draft the Act, and it was passed,” he said.

His Majesty said it was now surprising that they quoted the same law which was drafted with their assistance.
“Nanamuhla siyamangala kutsi ku-khothwe lomtsetfo lesawusebenta nabo. Lona lesawu sebenta in sympathy nabo,” he wondered.
The King said this then raised a question of what the country had done wrong to be removed.
However, he said he did not get a response.

Besides the benchmarks, His Majesty said the Americans cited local police as being not professional.
“Surprisingly, in the past months, the Americans called the police when faced with some challenges at the construction site of their embassy.

The police promptly responded to the call. If the police were not professionals, they would not have gone there to investigate,” he said.
This also, His Majesty said, left a lot of questions, which were unfortunately not answered.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: