President Kikwete to submit Tanzania governance report to AU
By Special Correspondent – President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania is set to present Tanzanian governance report to the meeting of the African leaders participating in the African Union governance assessment body-the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) next January.
The information was revealed yesterday by the APRM Tanzania chapter Head of Communications and Media Relations, Hassan Abbasi when briefing reporters at the on-going Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair.
“As our focal point Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Bernard Membe said recently, the report which was supposed to be presented by the President this July had to be postponed to January 2013 following the APRM Continental Secretariat’s failure to finish the report in time,” said Mr. Abbasi.
He added that the Tanzanian APRM chapter received new communication from the Continental Secretariat which is based in Midrand in South Africa informing that the report was ready but will be first discussed internally by a group of African eminent persons for quality assurances.
“Our fellows have confirmed to us that now the report on state of governance in Tanzanians and the expert recommendations thereof is ready and awaits quality review from top African eminent persons who will meet on 11-12 July in Addis Ababa,” added Mr. Abbasi.
He revealed that the report will hint on the country’s governance in four thematic areas of democracy and political governance, economic management, corporate governance and socio-economic development as per Tanzanians views collected from various stakeholders.
March this year when launching the Country Review Team in Dar es Salaam, President Kikwete promised to implement recommendations under the APRM process.
“APRM is like a mirror that helps us to see ourselves where we are and what we have achieved in terms of ensuring democratic leadership and good governance and economic development in our countries.
“It is against this truth that we are more than ready to implement your recommendations when the right time comes,” said the President in March. The Review team left Dar es Salaam on 23 March after three weeks of consultations with both state and non-state actors in Tanzania and promised to present their review report by May, 2012 however the process took much longer.
Tanzania is currently among 32 out of 54 African countries participating in the APRM process which is repeated after every four years to assess governance among member states. APRM was initiated in 2003 by African Heads of State and Government. Tanzania joined in 2004 and kick started the process in 2007.
