"APRM concept is non-partisan"- Dr Appiah

Akyem Oda, Dec 2, GNA - Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of the Governing Council African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has said the APRM concept is non-partisan and reminded its oversight committees to focus on ensuring democracy and good political governance, which is its core objective.

He, therefore, urged members of APRM oversight committees to focus on what would move their areas forward instead of conducting their deliberations along partisan lines, which could slow down the pace of development.

Dr Appiah was speaking at a workshop at Akyem Oda to deliberate the APRM Monitoring and Evaluation Report of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly. He commended the municipal oversight committee on their hard work and urged members to sustain that spirit to serve as a shinning example to others.

Dr Appiah observed that at the time that the rest of the world was moving forward, Africa was lagging behind as a result of bad governance and economic mismanagement, among other things. He said the APRM concept is, therefore, aimed at ensuring Democracy and Good Political Governance; Economic Governance and Management, Corporate Governance and Socio-Economic Development.

Dr Appiah reminded the participants making progress on those thematic areas of the concept depended to a large extent on their commitment to duty and challenged them to prove equal to the task. Mr William Quaitoo, Presiding Member of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly, who chaired the function, called for closer cooperation among the assembly members to enhance development in their areas. He urged them to educate their people on the need to guard against petty squabbles and acts that would undermine progress in their communities. Mr Ernest Opare, Birim Central Chairperson of the oversight committee, later presented a draft APRM Monitoring and Evaluation Report on the municipality.

The report, which outlined progress made in the four thematic areas of the APRM dwelt extensively on stakeholders' inputs so as to deepen civil society participation and also to promote ownership of the information collected.