President Akufo-Addo has assured the leadership of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of Ghana’s willingness to offer herself to be peer-reviewed on good governance in October 2024 when the exercise is due.
Ghana was the first country to accede to the African Peer Review Mechanism in 2003 and subsequently, the first country to conduct a comprehensive country review in the same year under the administration of President John Kufuor.
To this end, President Akufo-Addo said Ghana is happy to go through the peer review mechanism again in the new area of good corporate governance because of support for the African Peer Review Mechanism in a matter of public policy in Ghana.
“It (good corporate governance) is an area that we certainly would have quite a lot to say. It is important that we make it clear to you that we definitely would like to participate in the process,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Ghana commended
Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose-Quatre, the newly appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the APRM in her remarks to the President commended the government for hosting a successful mid-year Africa Union summit. She indicated that the APRM looks forward to Ghana’s peer review on good corporate governance before the end of 2024.
“I must really commend your country in terms of the legacy and the standard that has been set. There has been a low but I have taken note of renewed engagement with the request for Ghana to conduct a comprehensive peer review on good governance.
“During the extraordinary summit later this year (date yet to be confirmed) we are hoping to have several reviews at the summit including the thematic review on corporate governance that has been conducted here (in Ghana),” Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose-Quatre said.
Nation set for peer review
Chairman of the seven-member governing council of Ghana’s National African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Most Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante, in his remarks, noted that work has been done by some five African countries in preparation for their peer review on good corporate governance and Ghana is one of the five.
“We would be pleased to have you (President Akufo-Addo) offer yourself to be reviewed with your peers and we know you have the capacity to do that. Only one head of state did the review, and I think it was Mozambique. I was saying to myself that I wish my President was here as well,” Most Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante remarked.
“It will encourage us a lot if you take the advantage to get yourself reviewed on good corporate governance. This week, we will be meeting to consider the national plan of action. We will look at the methodologies and how to incorporate the findings into the national plan,” he further remarked.
The APRM mandate
The APRM is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by African Union (AU) member states as an African self-monitoring mechanism. The APRM is often described as “Africa’s unique and innovative approach to governance” to improve governance dynamics at the local, national, and continental levels.
The APRM was adopted by African heads of state and governments as a systematic peer learning and self-assessment mechanism originating from the NEPAD foundational document, the “Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance” adopted in Durban, South Africa in July 2002.
The vision of the APRM is the full actualisation of transformative leadership and practice for “the Africa we all want.” The mission of the APRM is to promote the African Union’s ideals and shared values of democratic governance and inclusive development by encouraging all member states of the Union to collaborate and voluntarily participate in the homegrown, credible, rigorous, independent, and self-driven peer review process and the implementation of its recommendations.
By way of its mandate, the APRM is to ensure that policies and practices of participating member states conform to the agreed political, economic, and corporate governance values, codes, and standards contained in the African Union Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic, and Corporate Governance.
As a voluntary self-monitoring instrument, APRM fosters the adoption of policies, standards, and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development, and accelerated regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and best practices, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs for capacity building.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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