Develop strategies to wean off donor dependency

Page 16, May 6, 2009

Story & Picture: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, has challenged African countries to develop strategies which will wean off their economies donor dependency.
He said that could be achieved only if they were able to adequately address the weaknesses in their internal capacities in the management of their economies.
Prof. Oquaye was addressing the opening session of a five-day international workshop to assess the policy implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Accra.
It is being attended by 35 participants from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), selected MPs from Ghana, staff of the NEPAD Secretariat and civil society representatives, among others.
The workshop, which is being organised by the Canadian Parliamentary Centre, a non-governmental organisation, is expected to ensure a more effective PAP, which is able to contribute to democratic governance in Africa.
It would also ensure enhancement of PAP’s capacity to monitor APRM and NEPAD implementation and compliance and prepare a recommendation on the APRM and NEPAD to the 12th session of the PAP.
Prof. Oquaye said implementation of programmes of the priority sectors of NEPAD was key to the economic transformation of Africa and the establishment of self-sustaining and self-reliant economies.
He said it was, however, important to stress that no amount of external support could make NEPAD successful, explaining that the concept would succeed depending on how African governments and leaders show commitment and zeal to implement its principles.
Prof. Oquaye said that in the case of Ghana, Parliament had taken the responsibility for ensuring that the rule of law, respect for human rights, transparency and accountability were necessary conditions for political, economic and corporate governance to prevail.
He said that had been made possible through legislation of policies which were supportive of the NEPAD initiative, explaining that the passage of the Financial Administration Act and the public sittings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament were all in line with the objectives of NEPAD.
Prof. Oquaye added that Ghana’s success story could be attributed to the government’s belief in democracy, good governance and acceptability to the people, making it the first country to be subjected to the Peer Review Mechanism, for which it had set up a Local Governing Council.
He identified poverty reduction as the biggest challenge of NEPAD, adding that while poverty was not specific to Ghana, it was striking and alarming that it was only in Africa that poverty had increased in recent years.
Prof. Oquaye called on African countries to learn from one another to avoid costly mistakes and reap the benefits of the NEPAD/APRM processes and their outcomes.
For his part, Dr Francis Appiah of Ghana’s APRM secretariat urged Parliaments in African countries to be interested in reports on the implementation of the APRM objectives which their countries submitted to the African Union (AU).
He said the NEPAD had given substance to the formation of the AU, and since achieving political independence, there was the need for African countries to be economically sustainable.
“Once we have gained political independence, what remains is economic independence, and it is the NEPAD which will ginger economic growth on the continent only if it will be well implemented,” he said.
The Director of Africa Programmes of the Parliamentary Centre, Dr Rasheed Draman, said the workshop would also examine how best practices could be replicated to other countries in order to develop and strengthen the monitoring and evaluation framework of the various committees of the PAP.

Pix I: Prof Mike Oquaye (fouth from left in the front roll) in a pose with the participants after the opening session. Also included in the picture is Professor Samuel K. Agyepong ( Chairman of the National Governing Council of the APRM.

Pix II: Prof Mike Oquaye (second right) delivering his address during the opening session of the workshop. Those with him are Dr Francis Appiah (extreme right) of the APRM, Dr Rasheed Draman of the Canadian Parliamentary Centre (extreme left) and Madam Oaderago (second left), a Member of both the Pan-African Parliament and Burkina Fasso Parliament.