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Ghana on Monday called on all member states of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to renew their commitment and interest in the process and to return to its core values and objectives.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, launched this call for the opening of a regional workshop to share experiences and raise awareness about APRM reviews second generation in Accra.
She stated that the APRM, created in 2003, was a mutually agreed instrument to which African Union (AU) member states had voluntarily joined under an African self-monitoring mechanism. to measure governance performance.
She said that Ghana was one of the first countries to submit to the APRM process because of the belief that this process could strengthen good governance on the continent.
She said: "The Peer-level State Peer Review is a good tool to promote political stability, accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration, economic growth and economic growth. sustainable development."
"By joining the APRM, Member States agree to independently verify their compliance with governance commitments at the African and international levels."
The APRM is a tool for sharing experiences, strengthening best practices, identifying gaps, and badessing capacity building needs to promote policies, standards, and practices leading to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated subregional and continental economic integration. .
Member countries self-monitor all aspects of their governance and socio-economic development.
Following the achievements of Ghana, other African countries have followed suit. Today, of the 38 participating countries, 22 have been peer reviewed.
Of these, three had undergone their second examination, namely; Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique.
The workshop, organized by the APRM National Governance Council, in collaboration with the APRM Continental Secretariat, brought together a number of African countries, development partners and non-state actors to facilitate peer-to-peer learning. how the APRM review process was conducted, including: the second review and how the recommendations of the first APRM reviews were used to achieve better results.
Ms. Botchwey noted with regret that, despite the fact that the APRM National Board has achieved a number of successes at the national and local levels by promoting the concept and fulfilling its mandate to oversee the implementation of the APRM. APRM, Ghana was unable to maintain momentum after the first review of the APRM; stating that 13 years after the first review, Ghana was still undergoing its second review.
"Ghana is pbadionate about the APRM and is therefore determined to renew its commitment to the second review," she said.
She added that on the basis of this badessment, a new national action program with some key actions should be proposed.
The new National Program of Action should make the APRM review process more responsive to citizens' needs, more cost-effective and more in line with the priorities and objectives of the African Union Agenda 2063.
She said the National Governing Council had put the implementation of Ghana's long-awaited Second Country Review at the forefront of its activities.
Professor Eddy Maloka, Director General of the APRM, said that, with the constant aim of improving governance at all levels, the APRM encourages member states to submit themselves regularly to APRM reviews; stating that this goal had been ambitious.
He announced that both Zimbabwe and Guinea had requested to be considered in January 2020.
Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, Chairman of the APR Panel of Experts, commended Ghana for the importance it placed on the implementation of the APRM in the country.
Reverend Prof Emmanuel Asante, Chair of the Ghana APRM National Governing Council, said the Governing Council was very grateful to the Government and other agencies for the support he had received in his efforts to put the APRM back in place in the country.
He said the Council would ask the government to conduct a targeted review of certain sectors of the economy as soon as possible.
Dr. Rachael Mukamunana, Peer Review Process Coordinator, APRM, said the workshop was intended to give participants an opportunity to discuss the importance of APRM national boards.
Source: GNA
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