SA gears for African peer review
Clive Ndou
23 June 2005
South Africa has finalised the process for preparing its submission to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the African Union body tasked with assessing countries' adherence to principles of sound governance.
There are now 24 African countries 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.
South Africa, eighth on the list of countries to be reviewed, is up for review this year. Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Mauritius are currently participating in the first set of reviews.
SA ready for review
According to the deputy director-general of foreign affairs, Jessie Duarte, the Department of Public Service and Administration will be a focal point during South Africa's preparation for its submission to the
ARPM.
Briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on foreign affairs in Cape Town on Wednesday, Duarte said the Cabinet had also appointed the director-general in the Presidency, Rev Frank Chikane, as the contact person during the process.
The government has also established a national chapter of the economic, social and cultural council, a body that provides a point of engagement with civil society and business for the APRM process.
Duarte said that although only 24 African Union (AU) member countries had agreed to be subjected to the APRM process, she was optimistic that more would buy into the process.
Participation in the APRM is voluntary and open to all members of the AU.
"Many of these countries who haven't signed up are waiting to see the outcome of the countries currently being reviewed," Duarte said.
Good governance and prosperity
The APRM seeks to foster the adoption of policies that lead to political
stability, high economic growth and sustainable development in Africa, and to ensure the accountability of leaders and the deepening of trust and cooperation among governments and countries on the continent.
The 80-page self-assessment questionnaires issued by the APRM panel tests countries' willingness to democratise institutions and fight poverty, corruption and underdevelopment.
Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said in 2004 that the document had helped his country to identify loopholes and "a lot of deficiencies in our own policies".
Former South African Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals, an APRM member responsible for country reviews, commented at the time: "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.
"That, I think, is the kind of results we would like to achieve with all the African countries participating in
this."
Mechanism 'not rigid'
The peer review questionnaire is not rigid, Stals said, and each country is assessed according to its own capacity to deliver, since almost all are "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.
Each African signatory to the African Peer Review Mechanism is required to deposit US$100 000 into the ARPM panel's coffers; additional funding for the peer review process comes from the international donor community, including G8 countries.
Source: BuaNews
| 
