Africa: Sirleaf elected new African Peer Review Mechanism chair
By Hassan Abbas, Addis Ababa – The African Union (AU) governance assessment body-the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has elected Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as its new chair.
Liberian President, Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President Sirleaf becomes the third chair of the APRM Forum of Heads of State and Government of the Mechanism and the first woman since its establishment in 2003.
President Sirleaf was unanimously elected on Sunday evening in an election that saw Senegalese President, Marky Sall pulling himself from the race. President Sall chairs another AU programme, NEPAD.
During the meeting on which President Kikwete of Tanzania was represented by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation, Mahadhi Juma Maalim, the meeting also appointed Cameroonian legal scholar, Barrister Akere Muna as chair of the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons, a high level panel that advises APRM Heads of State and Government.
Apart from electing Barrister Muna who is also the team leader for the APRM review team for Tanzania, the Heads of States also appointed former Rwandese Ambassador to Tanzania, Ambassador Fatma Ndangiza as Deputy Chair of the Panel of Eminent Persons.
Speaking after the election, the APRM Tanzania Executive Secretary, Rehema Twalib congratulated the new leaders describing them as a “winning team.”
The Mechanism which is heralded as the premier governance assessment institution for African countries and the Continent was incepted in March, 2003 and now enjoys a 33 membership out of 54 AU countries.
Tanzania signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the APRM on the 26th May, 2004 and secured formal admission into the process on the 8th July 2004. On the 1st February, 2005 the Tanzanian Parliament ratified the APRM Memorandum of Understanding.
The government of Tanzania established autonomous national institutions to manage the process and after wider consultation the first Country Review Report has been produced and some governance challenges have been included in the budget plans for 2013/14 for them to be addressed.
