All systems go for peer review
2004-02-18 20:25
Pretoria - Despite a vague definition of good governance, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) peer review programme was moving forward, officials said on Tuesday.
"We have not yet sat down and agreed on a definition of good governance but we have a fairly good understanding of what we want to see," outgoing Nepad secretariat chairperson Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu said in Pretoria.
Despite having said they wanted to be evaluated by Nepad's African Peer Review Mechanism, South Africa and Nigeria were not among the initial four countries who volunteered.
All African Union members received application forms to be completed if they wished to be evaluated as part of the mechanism.
South Africa never returned its form, said Nepad's deputy director-general, Smunda Mokoena.
"This bureaucratic bungle is being investigated."
The first four volunteers - Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and Mauritius - have already sent in their application forms and received questionnaires to complete.
This, coupled with information gathered from various global sources by a "specially selected panel" and a visit to each country, would decide if they were being governed in line with certain - as yet undefined - criteria.
Mokoena said it was decided that no country would be reviewed while preparing for, or participating in, a national election.
Mokoena and Nkuhlu were reporting back on a meeting of African heads of state held in Kigali, Rwanda, at the weekend where the peer review mechanism was formally adopted.
Nkuhlu said developmental assistance from developed countries had greatly improved. This, he said, was a result of ongoing talks between Nepad and organisations like the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations, G8.
Financial support from developed countries had increased from $16bn in 2000 to $18.6bn in 2002.
Nkuhlu explained that Nepad's restructuring of Africa was based on four pillars.
"Land and water management and the development of rural infrastructure are the first two. Rural areas in most countries need better transport routes and storage areas in order to develop," he said.
He described food security and research and development as the final two pillars.
"African heads of state have backed a decision to push science and research in Africa, especially in the agricultural sector," he said. This would be sponsored by to the tune of $500m by the World Bank.
While South Africa had a good agricultural research base, most other countries on the continent had none, Nkuhlu said.
AU member countries have been told to donate a minimum of $200 000 each towards Nepad and its projects.
- SAPA