Since the African Peer Review Mechanism was launched about two years ago, less than half of the African Union’s 53-member states have acceded to the process — designed to improve governance on the continent.
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) commits countries to opening themselves for inspection by a team of governance experts ‒- this to determine whether they have conformed to principles laid out in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). These include observing the rule of law, and respecting human and property rights.
Nepad, a blueprint for growth and poverty reduction in Africa, was formed in 2001 by five African leaders: South African President Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Zambia is one the latest countries to begin the process of accession to the APRM.
”Zambia has announced its interest to be reviewed. If it completes the process, it will become the 24th country to accede to the mechanism,” said an official at the APRM secretariat in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg, who declined to be named.
A host of nations where standards of governance are regularly questioned remain conspicuously absent from the list of countries up for review.
But, Ayesha Kajee, a researcher at the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs, says this may not indicate rejection of the APRM.
”Some want to prepare themselves before being reviewed. In other words, they want to get their house in order first, she said in a telephone interview Friday, adding that there are also countries devastated by war like CÃâ€te d’Ivoire and Somalia which are not yet ready for review. Others were in elections and decided to shelve review until after the polls.
Nonetheless, Kajee — who specialises in issues related to governance -‒ says there is a ”huge communication gap” between the APRM secretariat and African countries. This view is shared by others.
”Even countries that have acceded to the mechanism don’t know much about the process,” Prince Mashele, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, ”There is still a lot of misunderstanding about how this process works.”
He noted that certain African leaders also seemed to fear the review process would lead to a loss of sovereignty.
”They fear that the process is going to erode their territorial sovereignty. We need to change their mindset, but changing the mindset is not going to take a day. It will require a process of persuasion,” Mashele said. ”The African leaders who founded Nepad should deal with their counterparts to (make them) understand this process.”
The extent to which Nepad and the APRM admit the views of civil society has been a topic of hot debate. However, Kajee believes the mechanism could provide non-governmental groups with a good platform for raising their concerns.
”APRM is here to stay. It’s not going away (and) it is an alternative route that civil society could take,” she notes. ”Civil society can prevent issues from being whitewashed and swept under the carpet by governments.”
For its part, the APRM secretariat denies that it should be doing much more to inform states about peer review processes.
”That’s not true. We have the Nepad communication department which is playing that role,” said a secretariat official. ”Currently, the APRM is working to set up its independent communication department. At the moment, the activities in every country are played by the local Nepad focal points.”
Uganda will reportedly come under scrutiny by the APRM in February. The review will be conducted by six eminent persons, including Graca Machel, the wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela.
Saul Kaye, executive director of Uganda’s National Planning Authority, was quoted by local media as saying that reviews had already been completed for Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius and Kenya.
The hope is that frank assessments by the APRM will show wealthy countries that Africa is unafraid to tackle the corruption and rights abuse that have hobbled development on the continent.
Nepad is seeking $64-billion a year from investors, in return for good governance.
However, ”There is no guarantee that there will be influx of foreign investment to Africa,” notes Mashele, echoing the now familiar concern that last week’s tsunami disaster will deflect attention from African crises for some time to come.
”African leaders will have to do a lot of work to put Africa on the global agenda in the face of the Asian disaster,” Mashele says. ”Events elsewhere in the world tend to shift attention from Africa.” — IPS