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Ghana Re-affirms Commitment to APRM
As Country Hosts Continental APRM Conference
By Kwesi Konadu, Ghanadot
Accra, May 5, Ghanadot -
Ghana will from Tuesday May 8 to 10, 2007, strengthen its
commitment towards the African Peer Review Mechanism when
the country hosts a high level African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM) Continental Conference at the Labadi Beach Hotel in
Accra.
The Accra Conference has four main objectives namely, to
reiterate the political vision behind the APRM, to encourage
as many African countries as possible to embrace and
implement the APRM, to find best practices on how to
integrate the APRM National Programme of Action (NPoAs) into
the development strategies of African countries and to
foster dialogue between Africa and the G8 countries
The Accra conference is very significant in the sense that
Ghana has become the centre of attraction because of the
pioneering or as it were, the pacesetting role she plays as
the leading APRM country on the African continent.
The conference is expected to lead to a common African
position towards the engagement of the G8 countries in
political dialogue, ahead of the African Partnership Forum
scheduled for Berlin in May and the G8 summit in June 2007.
There will be the Accra Declaration, which will be presented
by the Chairperson of APRM Panel in Berlin to the African
Partnership Forum in May 2007. This will serve as a basis
for a political dialogue between African Heads of State to
be led by President John Agyekum Kufuor and the G8 at the
upcoming Summit in June.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs
will co-chair the African partnership forum in Berlin,
Germany.
The Accra conference is under the auspices of the National
African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (NAPRM-GC),
Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration
and NEPAD, in collaboration with African Peer Review
Secretariat, South Africa the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
and the Hanns Seidel Foundation among other strategic
partners.
In 2005, between the periods of April 4 to 16, a 16-member
Country Review Mission (CRM) made up of experts from the
APRM Secretariat, partner institutions and independent
consultants from 12 African countries set up camp in Ghana
to undertake an external audit assessment of the report
prepared by Ghanaians.
The main objective of the CRM was to ascertain that the
national assessment process was credible, technically,
competent, and free from political manipulation. At the end,
the CRM noted that the process in Ghana fully meets the
requirements.
Thereafter Ghana developed a National Programme of Action
from wide consultations between government, civil society,
the private sector, academia, following the preparation of
the country self-assessment report.
Currently Ghana is making progress in the whole system as
she is in the implementation stage of the National Plan of
Action scheduled to be in phases. The expectation is that
they would be implemented to address shortcomings and
weaknesses that have been a drawback on the country’s
socio-economic development and poverty alleviation process.
Under the theme “Africa’s Bold March to capture the 21st
Century- The Role of the APRM”, the Accra conference will
attract participants from the NEPAD Secretariat, APRM Panel
of Eminent Persons, the African Union, the United Nations
and the African Development Bank among others.
The APRM is an African self monitoring system that entails a
country voluntarily accepting to undertake an internal audit
of its political, economic, corporate and socio-economic
governance system by ordinary citizens after which an
external audit or verification is conducted by an
independent panel from the Africa Union.
Indeed, good governance and economic development among
others are key elements of growth and development across the
world and Ghana has in the past led the way and intends to
do so now.
The major challenge is that having come far with the APRM,
certain African Champions of the New African Partnership for
Development (NEPAD), the parent body of the APRM, have
backed out of the APRM process itself making some wonder how
much they are committed to overcoming the pain of
underdevelopment through the five pillars of change defined
by the CAPAD Secretariat.
The countries – Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa must buck
up, change the focus and ensure that their countries are
looking forward to them to help them lead a better way of
life.
Kwesi Konadu, Accra, May 5, 2007, Ghanadot.com
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