Ghana to face African Union on APRM

Accra, Nov. 17, GNA - Ghana, the first country to submit itself under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), would face African Heads of State on December 15 to defend the review report.

The December 15 meeting would offer President John Agyekum Kufuor and three other African Heads of State that have undergone the final phase of assessment under APRM, the opportunity to defend the outcome of the findings, recommendations and suggestions and to outline national modalities for implementation.

Professor S. K. Adjepong, Chairman of the Ghana's Governing Council, who stated this at the opening of a day's analytical workshop on the relevance of the APRM to the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) report, identified four core guiding principles of the APRM - technical competence; transparency, credibility and freedom from political manipulation.

He said Ghana's report submitted to the APR Forum through the Secretariat, would be publicly released through key regional and continental structures such as the Pan-African Commission on Human and People's Rights, the Peace and Security Council and the envisaged Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union after the December meeting.

Prof. Adjepong explained that National Governing Council would ensure that member states adhered to the mutually agreed objectives in the social and economic development as contained in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

On the linkages of the APRM and the GPRS II, Prof Adjepong, who is also the Principal of the Methodist University, said it was to avoid duplication and overcome steering the two initiatives in different directions as if they were at cross-purposes.

"We find it necessary to periodically compare the notes we have made in our preliminary fieldwork and engagement with the populace at large with existing national development initiatives such as the GPRS II."

He said the linkages with other national policies would also ensure acceleration of the processes towards adoption and implementation of the NEPAD priorities and programmes.

The others are to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability; high economic growth; sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through the sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful best practices.

Prof. Adjepong said the linkages would also identify deficiencies and assess the needs for capacity building by exercising constructive peer dialogue and persuasion thereby making the process effective, credible and acceptable.

Topics discussed included: "NEPAD, APRM and GPRS II - the Linkages"; "GPRS II, and Democracy and Good Political Governance"; "GPRS II, Economic Governance and Management"; and "GPRS II and Socio Economic Development".

Other members of the Council are, Mrs Gloria Ofori-Boadu, Founder and President of Women Assistance and Business Association; Mr Nutifafa Kofi Kuenyehia, a private legal practitioner and Professor S.K.B. Asante, an international constitutional expert.

The rest are Professor Miranda Greenstreet, formerly of the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana, Legon, the Most Reverend Paul Bemile, Catholic Bishop of Wa and Mr Alex Abankwa, a career diplomat.

The review process is a self-monitoring mechanism intended to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that would lead to political stability, high economic growth rate and sustainable development.