NAPRM INAUGURATES OVERSIGHT C'TTEES (PAGE 20, MAY 15, 2010)

The Governing Council of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM) has inaugurated three oversight committees in Tema to advocate and promote the concept of the APRM at the district level.
The three committees, which represented the last batch of committees to be inaugurated in the 170 administrative districts of the country, were the Tema Metropolitan, Ashaiman and Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal APRM oversight committees.
Each committee is made up of nine members, taking into consideration gender balance to promote equal levels of advocacy.
In his inaugural speech, the Chairman of the NAPRM Governing Council, Prof. S.K. Adjepong, said the APRM was being decentralised to reach people at the grass roots to enable them to make decisions to benefit every citizen in the district.
He called on members not to politicise the APRM because it was founded on the concept of promoting democracy, good governance and human rights .
Prof. Adjepong said the development of any nation depended on peace and not crisis, noting that Africa had all the resources and arable lands but was the least developed.
He stated that Africa was plagued with poverty, disease and bad governance, adding that Ghana was determined to practise democracy and economic and corporate governance, hence the decision to accede to the APRM.
Prof. Adjepong noted that the concept would enable member countries to examine themselves and come up with their weaknesses and strengths for solution.
He said 29 countries in Africa, representing 75 per cent of the population, acceded to the APRM, which has its headquarters in South Africa.
Prof. Adjepong said Ghana was in the lead and the only country to have inaugurated its oversight committees.
A member of the NAPRM Governing Council, Prof. S.K.B. Asante, said members of the committees would be required to educate and sensitise the masses to the need to co-operate for positive results.
He emphasised the need to be independent and not to politicise the APRM, adding that members must not allow themselves to be influenced by politicians because “politicians would come and go but APRM is Ghana and will not go”.
Prof. Asante said the various assemblies would debate the decisions of the committees, and, therefore, called on them to be “truthful” in their programmes.
He announced that the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) had been tasked to assist the oversight committees to educate the public on their rights and unearth social vices in the system.
The Greater Accra representative on the Council of State, Mr Emmanuel Adzei Annang, observed that the NCCE was a constitutional institution and vital in assisting in governance but was bitter that it was not equipped to perform creditably.
He said it was time the NCCE was funded adequately to enable it to step up its duties.
Mr Adzei Annang said the NCCE must be strengthened to play its role effectively to gain the needed recognition.
He cautioned members of the committees to know their limits and not become politicians while performing their roles as advocates for democracy and human rights.
A minute’s silence was observed for the former Executive Secretary of the NAPRM, Dr Francis Appiah, who died recently.