President John Dramani Mahama has expressed Ghana’s readiness to undergo a comprehensive peer review, describing the exercise as crucial for assessing progress in governance interventions.
The President made the remarks on Tuesday after swearing in members of the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council at the Presidency in Accra.
According to President Mahama, the new Council is expected to lead Ghana’s second-generation review later this week on the sidelines of the African Union Summit scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“We’re willing to do that, and we’ll be available to lead that process,” he assured.
The President noted that Ghana was among the first countries to accede to, volunteer for, and undergo a comprehensive peer review process in 2006.
“It’s been an issue of pride for us that Ghana’s democracy, accountable governance, and everything that we are noted for will be subjected to review by our peers,” he said.
He observed that the 2006 review highlighted the significant development gap between the deprived Northern belt and the South, which eventually led to the establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to provide direct development assistance and stem migration from North to South.
“We want to know what has happened to those inequalities and what level of opportunities we have opened up in other parts of the country,” President Mahama stated.
The new Governing Council is chaired by Professor Akua Kuenyehia, a retired Justice of the International Criminal Court. In a brief remark, Professor Kuenyehia expressed gratitude to the President and assured him of the Council’s commitment to upholding transparency and the independence of governance institutions.
Other members are Dr Joseph Whittal, Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Joseph Obeng, Mr David Ofosu-Dorte, and Mrs Cornelia Amoah.
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is a voluntary, mutually agreed self-monitoring instrument established in 2003 by the African Union to promote good governance, political stability, and sustainable development.