Vice President calls for accountability by African leaders

Accra, Oct. 18, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Monday, called on African leaders to exhibit a level of good governance, leadership and accountability that would pave way for integration and economic independence.

"We as Africans can never succeed in our quest for regional integration if we do not demonstrate good leadership that will inspire other members of our communities to repose confidence in our activities," he said.

Vice President Mahama made the call when he addressed delegates attending the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) sub-Regional Conference, in Accra.

The conference, being attended by Francophone and Anglophone West African states, is under the theme; "West African Centre for the Advancement of the APRM, A case for Promoting Good governance". It is aimed at giving the delegates the opportunity to appraise their performance and brace themselves up for some of their challenges.

Vice President Mahama said accountability, which is an important ingredient for good governance, is also instrumental to give the citizenry the opportunity to review the performance of their governments and should, therefore, remain an integral part of their development programmes.

"We can ensure good governance and accountability only if we involve our citizens in policy formulation and implementation in our various countries."

He called on African leaders to denounce the formation of parallel bodies that had the potential of derailing and impeding the development programmes of their governments.

The Vice President said most countries were chalking successes in their APRM programmes because of the engagement and collaborations they had with non-state actors and civil society organizations and appealed to African leaders to desist from the perennial practice of frustrating opponents.

Ms Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in Ghana, pledged the support of her outfit to the success of the APRM programmes in the continent.

She called for the formation of effective implementation, supervisory and monitoring teams that would ensure the success of the programmes to serve as an innovation from the continent.

"APRM could become a model for other continents if the challenges of good implementation are eliminated and I will like to call on the leaders to step up their activities to meet the development goals of their countries," Ms Sandhu-Rojon said.

Dr. Patrick Agboma, a representative of the African Development Bank, gave the assurance that his outfit would continue to give all APRM programmes financial and technical support.

He stressed the need for an effective monitoring system that would ensure that all resources are put to good use.