Tanzania: Government ready to implement APRM governance reports
By Shout-Africa Correspondent – The government of Tanzania has expressed its readiness to have its governance system audited by the African Peer Review Mission (APRM) an African Union (AU) governance body.
Speaking in an ITV program in Dar es Salaam yesterday the Minister of State (President’s Office, Good Governance), Mathias Chikawe, said the government has allowed a panel of experts from APRM Continental Secretariat to visit and review governance effectiveness in Tanzania.
“The government has allowed APRM to bring in a panel of experts to review our country. We have prepared yourself and we have allowed them to go everywhere in the country so that they can write an objective report,” assured the Minister.
A press release issued last week from the APRM Tanzania Secretariat said the government has invited the APRM review team which will arrive from 2-23 March 2012.
“The Mission, comprising experts from other African countries, will interact and consult extensively with governance stakeholders being government officials, parliamentarians, representatives of political parties, the business community, representatives of civil society including media, academia, trade unions, civil society organizations(CSOs), community based organizations (CBOs), rural communities and development partners. The consultations will serve to build consensus with governance stakeholders on governance challenges and steps needed to address same,” said the statement.
The African Peer Review Mechanism is a voluntary instrument of the member states of African Union to monitor progress in good governance in their countries. A country assesses itself first and then it is reviewed by other African countries (peers).
The overarching objective is to foster the adoption of standards, policies and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental integration. In the review process member states share experiences among themselves, point out governance deficiencies encourage best practices and address resource needs.
Tanzania is among 33 countries participating out of 54 African countries after signing the accession MOU on 23 July 2004 which was also ratified by the Parliament in February 2005. The internal assessment was successfully accomplished by producing the Country Self Assessment Report and the National Programme of Action in July 2009. The Country Review Mission is expected to produce the Country Review Report and the final National Programme of Action.
The APRM process is a continuous process repeated after every four years in order to sustain governance dialogue and continuously improve the demand side of accountability in African countries.
