Johannesburg – The African Union’s flagging programme for improving the governance of its member countries received a boost at the AU summit here this week where it was decided that three more countries would be scrutinised this year.
Djibouti, Chad and Senegal would be the first countries to be probed by the African Review Mechanism (APRM) since 2013, Mustapha Mekideche, the newly-elected chairperson of the African Peer Review Panel of Eminent Persons said at the summit.
He was elected at the summit by the African Peer Review Forum, which comprises the heads of state of the 35 African nations which have volunteered to be “peer reviewed.”
Mekideche, an Algerian, complained last month at a meeting in Gaborone that the APRM was losing momentum, in part because the member countries were not paying their dues and so the organisation could not afford to conduct reviews.
It had been embarrassed when it formally launched a peer review in Djibouti and then ran out of cash when international donors were unable to deliver on their promises, he had said then.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the current chair of the African Peer Review Forum, (APR Forum) which comprises the leaders off the 35 volunteer nations, told the forum meeting at the summit that the APRM was short of $12 million in unpaid dues.
And Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta complained that only 17 of the 35 African countries which had joined the APRM had actually submitted themselves to peer review. He said Kenya was about to have its second review.
Sirleaf said that the national plans of action which were drawn up to implement the recommendations of the peer review panel, were too often being ignored.
Kenyatta proposed a special summit of the AU to discuss ways of rejuvenating the APRM. He said the world was watching Africa and the APRM was its way of maintaining its reputation.
Mekideche said in an interview at the summit that the APRM had received a new injection of cash and commitment at the summit which would allow it to start doing three more peer reviews this year, in Djibouti, Senegal and Chad.
Some member countries had paid their arrears and this had inspired the UN Development Programme, the African Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Office for the Special Adviser for Africa of the UN Secretary-General to pledge more financial contributions. This would help finance the three country peer reviews and also the appointment of a full time APRM executive director.
The peer review that will be done in Senegal is especially significant, Mekideche suggested. Senegal’s former President Abdoulayi Wade had been one of the founders of the APRM, with former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, among others.
But he had never submitted his own country to a peer review. Now his successor, Macky Sall, had agreed to do so.
But Mekideche said he had to ask Sall some pointed questions about the absence of representatives of the political opposition, and critical elements of civil society in Senegal’s national commission that would manage. He said Sall corrected this.
He had had a similar experience with Mauritius, Mekideche said.
Considering that only 17 of the 35 countries which had signed up to the APRM had been reviewed – though that number is set to rise to 20 this year with the additional three countries – Mekideche acknowledged that some countries were probably joining the APRM purely as a publicity exercise.
Eyebrows were raised when Equatorial Guinea joined two years ago, despite being a de factor dictatorship, most analysts would agree. Mekideche said: “We will check the democracy in Equatorial Guinea.”
Though that would first require the West African country’s longtime leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, to submit to a peer review.
“We are chosen by heads of state because we are independent, “Mekideche said. “We need African solutions for African problems. If we don’t do it properly, other organisations will take our place..”
Analysts believe he has the confidence to tell heads of state what they should be doing. But he doesn’t reserve his criticism for governments. He also said that opposition parties often resent the APRM when it praised governments for their achievements.
Mekideche would also like to bring on board those 19 countries which have not yet signed up to APRM. Botswana is a particular ambition. It has not joined the APRM because it says it is governing well without it, and always ranks high on governance measures. The APRM and the South African Institute of International Affairs held their workshop in Gaborone last month to try to encourage Botswana to join.
Mekideche said the APRM would like to have Botswana on board to share its good practices, especially in the management of natural resources. But also, he said, because even Botswana could improve its governance, as no country was perfect. Botswana could learn something about translating its good economic performance into benefits for the poor, he suggested.
ANA