The Governing Council of the National Peer Review Mechanism has organised for chiefs and queens in the Greater Accra Region a workshop on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report which includes its findings and the recommendations.
Speaking at the workshop, the Chairman of NAPRM-GC, Professor S. K. Adjepong, said Ghana was the first country to be reviewed under this new African initiative.
According to him, the APRM was a voluntary way of assessing problems encountered in the country for the reinforcement of best practices in identifying the deficiencies needed for capacity building.
He said the primary purpose of the APRM was to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that would lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub regional and continental economic integration.
The Executive Secretary of the NAPRM-GC, Dr Francis Appiah, said the APRM was about human development, of which there were four dimensions.
This, he said, was understanding the importance of good political governance, proper management of the economy, good corporate enterprise and good standards of living for socio-economic development.
According to him, in APRM findings and recommendations, it had emerged that several policies were in place to ensure access to social services, including education, health and other basic services such as social expenditure which had increased to about 40 per cent.
He said the prevalence of poverty in Africa compelled the United Nations to come up with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which Ghana made a remarkable progress to achieve.
On education, he said the net primary school enrolment had increased nationally from 58 per cent in 1999 to almost 70 per cent in 2003.
Dr. Appiah said despite the difficult macroeconomic environment, Ghana had invested in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
He said in Ghana, just about 18 per cent of women were empowered compared to Rwanda, which had 41 per cent of women in Parliament. With the introduction of policy measures and programmes to promote women's rights, participation of women in nation building had increased tremendously.
He stated that adequate incentives must be provided to stop the rural-urban migration of professionals (teachers and health officials) for them to stay and work in the rural areas and the three northern regions. |