Abuja Country Report is not the actual APRM Review - Council

Accra, June 24, GNA - The Governing Council of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on Friday said last Sunday's Report in Abuja was not the actual Peer Review, but rather an APRM Country Review Report. "It was a presentation of the Ghana APRM Country Review Report by the Panel of Eminent Persons to the African Peer Review Forum, which is made up of the Heads of State of countries that subscribe to the APRM," it said.

Explaining what he described as erroneous misrepresentations about what happened in Abuja, the Reverend Professor Samuel K. Agyepong, Chairman of the Council, told a press conference in Accra that the Heads of State themselves would make the Peer Review of the country in mid-August this year.

The Chairman said APRM was neither an assessment of the President or Presidency nor, for that matter, a review of the executive arm of Government alone, which some sections of the Media had made people to believe through their comments. "In the meantime, the Report remains embargoed because the Peer Review exercise may append changes to the Country Review Report," he said.

"The APRM assessment does not amount to the country being put before a court nor is it a scoring exam in which the country is awarded marks or graded in relation to perceived standard," Rev. Prof. Agyepong said. He said the assessment was national in character that focused not only on the current Administration but was also based on analysis going as far back as 20 years.

"The distinction between the two is important and significant," Rev. Prof. Agyepong noted. He said the Panel's recommendations on the Report were not merely coined by they themselves. Rather they emerged out of numerous national consultations with stakeholders and the review of how Ghanaians themselves assessed the state of governance in the four areas of the APRM.

The four areas included are democracy, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development. Rev. Prof. Agyepong said it should not be a surprise if some of the recommendations tied with some policy options canvassed by sections of the society, adding it ought to be borne in mind that due process and fair play demand that government had the right to comment on any recommendation made by the Panel.

"Instead of trying to be fixated with the weaknesses which we as a people have identified ourselves, we should rather be proud that we were the first in Africa to embark on this enterprise," he said. He said the Report had portrayed Ghana as gradually becoming a shining example to other African countries hence, Ghanaians should celebrate such an achievement as a people for coming this far as the country remained conscious of its weaknesses. "That is the spirit that has informed the implementation of the APRM," the Chairman said.