Defence Minister calls for governance reforms

Governance systems in Africa must be restructured, and countries must pursue values that integrate societies in order to address the region’s human security concerns, Defence Minister Mark Woyongo has said.

He said in Africa there is always a challenge to address human security concerns, due notably to governance deficits that often come in the form of conflicts, democratic reversals and state fragility.

He made these remarks in a speech read for him at the fifth annual general meeting of the Association for Security Sector Reform Education and Training (ASSET) at the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) on Wednesday.

“The pursuit of human security in state building represents the hope that needs of citizens will finally find space and become the focus of developmental efforts,” he said.

He, however, noted that the trend of insecurity, especially in Africa, has considerably abated, and notable progress in terms of governance reforms and post-conflict recovery has been made on the continent over the last few years.

Much of the success, according to him, has been achieved because of the many institutional reforms that have been carried out, especially within the political space and the security sector. Increasingly, also, the principles of human rights and the rule of law have become prerequisites for measuring successes in democratic governance and peacekeeping operations.

“Security is at the heart of all this; it must be delivered in a responsive and effective manner while remaining under democratic control.”

Mr. Woyongo said that the expertise and diversity represented in ASSET is an illustration of the desire of members to cooperate, collaborate and complement efforts for greater impact in security sector education and training.

He added that choosing to host the event in Africa illustrates the importance attached to the emerging security sector reform processes and mechanisms on the African continent.

He expressed joy that the African Union (AU) has adopted its regional Security Sector Reform (SSR) policy framework, which received tremendous inputs from civil society groups such as the African Security Sector Network (ASSN), also a member of ASSET.

Dr. Norman Mlambo, the African Union SSR Officer, said the AU SSR programme started in 2009, and the process was long and difficult, but eventually the policy was adopted by the AU Assembly in January, 2013.

The AU Policy Framework on SSR is a guide for the AU member-states, regional economic communities (RECs), and partners for the implementation of SSR on the African continent -- building on the normative basis established by the United Nations.

Dr. Mlambo said while recognising existing international normative frameworks on SSR, the AU Policy framework encourages RECs and member-states to develop their own SSR strategies to complement these international SSR frameworks.

The theme for this year’s meeting was “Supporting the Implementation of SSR Strategies within Regional and Sub-Regional Organisations”. ASSET boasts 44 members from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.