Do not politicise the APRM process- Prof. Asante

Accra, Aug. 30, GNA- Professor S. K. B. Asante, a member of the Governing Council of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), on Monday said it would be wrong for any political party or individual to politicise Ghana's review process, which was being administered by an independent body outside government.

"It will be wrong for any political party or anyone to allude to or attempt to meddle the APRM in politics because the entire process and its implementation have an external force," he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Accra.

He granted the interview after the opening of a day's sensitisation workshop on the APRM for the leadership of the security services. He said Ghana's internal audit of the entire programme was being embarked upon with questionnaires designed by the African Union (AU), therefore making the interference of the government in the process very difficult.

Prof. Asante said the process was participatory and not a manifesto of a political party.

"The Council will therefore not like it to be associated to political parties because we are not dependent on government, which means that civil society organisations, the private sector as well as other bodies all form part of the process."

He said the various technical teams appointed were carrying out the sensitisation process, which had so far covered most parts of the country.

Giving an overview of the APRM, Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of the Council, said the review mechanism was a monitoring device, which sought to control and ensure that the tenets of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) were successfully implemented.

He spoke on the genesis and significance of the NEPAD initiative vis-=E0-vis its APRM process and said besides facilitating good governance and sound economic management for African countries, it would also create a sense of national ownership, because it is "home-grown". Dr Appiah announced that so far 23 African countries had acceded to the review and implementation process, and in both situations Ghana was first to do so.

He said the main pillars of assessment were democracy and good political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.