Ghana accedes to second African Peer Review Mechanism

After acceding herself first in Africa to be reviewed under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in 2003, Ghana is in for a second review of the process. The country agreed to the APRM in 2003 and was reviewed in 2006, first to do so in Africa.

Chairman of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM) Governing Council, Rev. Prof. S.K. Adjepong who announced this said Ghana has voluntarily opened up for a second review which will take place in 2013.

“A second review will be done in 2013. It was supposed to be last year but couldn’t happened due to lack of finance,” Prof. Adjepong said today June 12, 2012 in Accra at a meeting organized by the Editors Forum, Ghana (EFG) in collaboration with the NARPM Governing Council.

The APRM is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by the member states of the African Union (AU) as a self-monitoring mechanism. The mandate of the APRM is to encourage conformity in regard to political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards, among African countries and the objectives in socio-economic development within the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The APRM process looks at four key areas of a country – Democracy and good political governance; Economic governance and management; Corporate governance and lastly Socio-economic development.

As compared to the first review, the NAPRM Governing Council Chairman said the scope of the second review on Ghana will be smaller. “We are not going to start all over. New issues have come and that will be highlighted,” he explained.

According to him, Ghana’s President John Atta-Mills will present a progress report of the Programme of Action (PoA) made so far based on the first review report at the upcoming AU Conference in July 2012 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Prof. Adjepong said only 30 African countries have acceded to the APRM and “50% have been reviewed.”

By Ekow Quandzie