Dr Appiah Receives German-Africa Award

Dr Francis Appiah receiving the award from Dr Angela Merkel

The Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Governing Council, Dr Francis Appiah, has received the 2007 German Africa Prize for his efforts at contributing to governance reforms in Ghana and the African continent as a whole.

The Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Angela Merkel, who presented the award to Dr Appiah at a grand ceremony held in Berlin, praised his work and contributions to the successful review of Ghana and the implementation of the APRM process in the country, while assisting other African countries to do the same.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is a mutually agreed instrument for self-monitoring by participating African Union member countries to ensure that the policies and practices of African states conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards contained in their declaration on democracy, political, economic and corporate governance.

Ghana was the first country to accede to the APRM, raising high expectations on the African continent and beyond.

The Chancellor, who only returned from Africa, 24 hours before presenting the award, said Dr Appiah, through the APRM has set the benchmark for other African countries to follow.

“More and more countries are now willing to use the mechanism to put the politics and governance of their countries to the test and the prize, like the prize-winner, is a promising sign of the impressive development of the African continent,” she said.

Professor Karl-Heinz Hornhues, the Chairman of the German Africa Foundation, said the award was an acknowledgement of Germany's support to all the pro-reform processes in Africa.

“We are delighted that the support for NEPAD and the APRM again played a leading role in this year's G8 summit in Heiligendamm,” he recounted.

Since 1993, The German Africa Foundation has presented the award to exceptional personalities from Africa, judged by an independent panel which has contributed substantially to peace, stability, democracy, human rights and the social market economy in Africa.

In his acceptance speech, Dr Appiah, said the greatest advances in the well-being of countries the world over have come from public measures and that he and the NAPRM-GC were sure of the success of the APRM process in Ghana, when the Government of the Republic of Ghana demonstrated a political will towards the process by incorporating the recommendations of the country's review exercise into the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRSII) for implementation.