**ANALYSIS** #Africa Peer Review Mechanism Gets Back to Business, but Stronger Participation At Heads of State Level Needed The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a voluntary African governance promotion tool, now boasts an unprecedented 34 member states, 17 of which have completed their first reviews. But a lack of political enthusiasm for it - especially by heads of state - is endangering its relevance and impact on governance. After the high point of last years tenth year anniversary celebrations, it was back to business as usual at the 29 January 2014 APRM Forum meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the fringes of the African Union Summit. Only one new member country - Equatorial Guinea - joined the mechanism, contrary to the expectations that both Cape Verde and Côte dIvoire would also accede. In addition, only two existing members - South Africa and Mozambique - presented their progress reports, despite the expectation that three others would do so as well. While the accession by Equatorial Guinea raised eyebrows among some observers, this could be a welcome signal that the country might, at last, be willing to begin an internal and regional discussion around governance concerns. The absence of the presidents of Benin, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone at the Forum meant that these countries were removed from the final programme. Conceptualised as a continental instrument for improving governance in Africa across four thematic areas (democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development), the APRM was launched in March 2003 as part of the overarching New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD), aimed at putting Africa on a more sustainable development path. Referring to numerous international and African governance standards and utilising a comprehensive questionnaire, member states review their own performance as well as open themselves up to scrutiny by African experts. The two review processes are merged and published in a single report and the head of state is then reviewed by his or her peers. The participating government pledges to tackle the governance deficiencies revealed while building on best practices unearthed in the course of the review. In African politics, as in the rest of the world, this was and remains unprecedented. Moving away from perceptions of African leaders being members of an old boys club, the APRM has been instrumental in creating systems of transparency, accountability, national dialogue and mutual co-operation on the way forward. (y) Hope for Africa ************************** LIKE COMMENT SHARE
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 05:00:00 +0000
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