Tanzania to receive governance assessment team
By Shout-Africa Correspondent – The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania has invited the APRM Country Review Mission (CRM) to visit Tanzania 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.
The APRM Tanzania Executive Secretary, Rehama Twalib said the team was postponed from an earlier 24 February date to allow preparations for wider stakeholders.
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 latter comprise strategic actions that are aimed at addressing the governance challenges afflicting our country.
The APR process will be repeated after every four years in order to sustain governance dialogue and continuously improve the demand side of accountability in the country.
