Kenya reaffirm its commitment to African Peer Review Mechanism

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a process aimed at enhancing democratic progress in the continent, saying it is crucial in helping countries to learn from each other.

And the Kenyan leader stressed that African countries do not necessarily have to go and copy what they see in the Western world in order for them to progress.

Kenyatta, who received Kenya’s targeted review report presented to him by the review mission team from the APRM continental secretariat, stressed the need for African countries to work together as allies since they are not in competition with each other.

“We have the capacity to learn from each other. Our circumstances in Africa are different from circumstances in other parts of the world and it is not necessary for us to import, wholesale, models that do not particularly fit our circumstances,” he said in a statement issued by the presidency in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

He said through processes like the APRM, African countries have the capacity to learn from each other. “We have the capacity to see the strong points, the weaknesses and what we can do as a continent to improve our governance system and be able to improve service delivery to the people,” he said.

The APRM targeted review process focused on Kenya’s development plan dubbed the Big 4 Agenda covering the broad sectors of manufacturing, affordable housing, universal healthcare, food security and nutrition as well as cross-cutting governance issues including youth employment, gender equality and diversity management.

The APRM is a framework of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) with the aim of fostering the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth and sustainable development in the continent. It also seeks to enhance good working relationships between the government, the private sector and the media to promote constructive and inclusive engagement.

Africa is the only continent to initiate such a unique and unprecedented mechanism, which reviews the performance of a country against all the components of governance — democracy and human rights, economic governance, corporate governance as well as socioeconomic development.

The APRM continental secretariat led by Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika commended Kenya for the progress it has made toward achieving the Big 4 Agenda. “I am particularly impressed and excited about the Linda Mama program (free health insurance cover for pregnant women). Other African countries should draw an important lesson from this life-changing program,” Lewanika said. Enditem