Four more for African peer review
Matome Sebelebele
8 July 2004
Four more African countries have asked to join the African Peer Review Mechanism, the African Union (AU) body tasked with assessing African countries' adherence to principles of sound governance.
Nigerian President and new AU chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo, speaking during a closed session at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday, said that Angola and Lesotho had "officially expressed their intention to accede".
A communiqué released after the session confirmed that Tanzania and Malawi had also penned in their names to get on board what is seen as an "encouraging" attempt by Africa to boost foreign investment, economic growth and respect for rule of law.
There are now 22 African states that have agreed to open their financial, social and political books to African Peer Review Mechanism teams tasked with checking if their house rules conform with the goals of good governance and prosperity free from anti-democratic governments
and conflict.
Four of the five main financial contributors to the AU - South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt - have already signed up for peer reviews. Libya, the fifth big financial contributor, has yet to do so.
However, pressure is mounting for the remaining states to sign up, leaving Morocco - the only African country that is not an AU member - out in the cold. The North African nation is reportedly developing plans to join the European Union.
African leaders at the summit have affirmed the APRM's role in advancing the AU's new US$1.7-billion strategic plan. The Peer Review is seen to be good for attracting investment.
However, good governance could come at a price for the private sector, that has long been calling for better conditions on the continent before they invest. The AU plans to approach the private sector to help finance some of the processes - such as the Peer Review - designed to ensure that development really occurs.
Each African
signatory to the African Peer Review Mechanism (ARPM) is required to deposit US$100 000 into the ARPM panel's coffers; additional funding for the peer review process will come from the international donor community, including G8 countries.
Peer review has helped us: Chissano
Already, scores of African leaders - including Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano - have been issued with 80-page self-assessment questionnaires by the APRM panel testing their willingness to democratise institutions and fight poverty, corruption and underdevelopment.
The former AU chairperson said the document had helped his country to identify loopholes and "a lot of deficiencies in our own policies, and we are improving on them".
Former South African Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals, an APRM member responsible for country reviews, welcomed Chissano's statement.
"We have not even been to Mozambique and have not had specific discussions with them, and
already they tell us that we are helping them to implement the right policies", Stals said in an interview with BuaNews. "That, I think, is the kind of results we would like to achieve with all the African countries participating in this.
The peer review questionnaire was not rigid, Stals said, and each country would be assessed according to its own capacity to deliver, since almost all were "at different stages of development".
"We will give them some guidance on what we think is good and what would lead them to the right direction", Stals explained.
Though the Peer Review Mechanism is not punitive in character, it is feared that its reports could be unpopular with some African leaders, with critics questioning the political independence of the APRM teams.
"Our loyalty ... is not to an individual country or region", Stals said. "We will conduct an objective, independent assessment of policies that countries follow in the implementation of the ideals of
Nepad [the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the socio-economic blueprint of the African Union]."
Stals argued it was in African countries' own interest to volunteer to be scrutinised. Failure to do so, he said, would most likely influence or deny them investment by other organisations.
"I can assure you that the private sector and businesses, not only in Africa but especially in the rest of the world, are going to look at these reports very, very carefully when they take decisions on where they are going to invest in Africa", he said.
Source: BuaNews
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