Factors delaying APRM programmes identified

Sunyani, May 14, GNA - Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Mechanism-Governing Council, has attributed delays in the implementation of designed programmes of action for the country's socio-economic development to a number of factors. These include the lack of commitment, prioritisation, political will and financial and resource capacities on the part of government and other stakeholders to carry the development process forward. Dr Appiah told the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani in a telephone interview on Monday that the country was noted for good ideas, plans and programmes but most of them could not be effectively implemented as a result of these factors.

He said to help check and avoid this pitfall; a monitoring and evaluation mechanism had been set up within the Council. Other factors plaguing the country's development include the unwillingness to put premium on the implementation of programmes, organizational and institutional inadequacies and an attitude that many a time supports mediocrity, the executive secretary added. Dr Appiah noted: "A worrying trend is where we have strong leadership, but their work is undermined either by employees or by powers that be, who invariably in the long-run turn to support a culture of mediocrity and the guilty".

He emphasized that "this disease" could be eradicated if politicians showed total commitment and an unending passion for the implementation of development programmes with the necessary financial backing.