APRM is non-partisan - Adjepong

Cape Coast, March 10, GNA - Chairman of the Governing Council of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM-GC), Reverend Professor Samuel Adjepong, on Monday reiterated that the APRM which is a process to facilitate good governance, is non-partisan, and also not for any particular government, but for the development of all Africans. He explained that the mechanism was adopted, because despite abundant natural and human resources on the continent, it still lagged behind in development, adding that research also indicates that bad governance, among others, was a contributory factor.

Rev. Prof. Adjepong, who is also Principal of the Methodist University College, said this at the inauguration of a nine-member APRM oversight committee for the Cape Coast Metropolis at Cape Coast. The committee, which is to collate information on democracy, good governance, economic governance and management, as well as socio-economic development and forward it to the NAPRM-GC to be included in a national report, is chaired by Mr Hope Howusu, an educationist. Rev Prof Adjepong said the APRM was an African self-monitoring system to help check its systems, and that 28 of 52 African nations had endorsed it to enable them internally audit their political, economic, corporate and socio-economic governance systems by ordinary citizens. He underscored its importance to the development of a nation, stressing that its success, largely depended on the work of the committees at the grassroots and urged Ghanaians to be proactive and ensure that the government and other private institutions became more accountable to the people.

Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of NAPRM-GC, named some of the achievements of the Mechanism in Ghana as the establishment of various trade desks to assist businesses, the national housing projects and the fall in the HIV/AIDS prevalent rate from 2.9 to 2.2 percent. He noted that challenges, like the non-existence of a council to cater for the disabled, as well as the difficulty they face in accessing their two percent share of the assemblies' Common Fund, and the absence of a financial administration tribunal to prosecute officers who embezzle or misappropriate funds, still needed to be tackled. Mr Sam Cudjoe, Principal Programmes Officer of the GC, mentioned low incomes and occupational risks faced by workers in the informal sector, non- reduction in corporate taxes and the inability of Ghanaians to take advantage of the whistle blowers' act, as other issues the NAPRM-GC was grappling with. Ms Mercy Arhin, Metropolitan Chief Executive, urged committee members to work assiduously and identify problems in the area for the onward submission to the national body for redress. The Cape Coast committee brings to 11, the number of such groups to be inaugurated in the country.