President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is the best tool to review African countries as they have similar challenges and background.
The President said, since the first review done to the country in 2006, Kenya has made tremendous progress in terms of good governance, economic and social development.
President Kenyatta was speaking Saturday morning at State House Nairobi when he was presented with the Road map for Kenya’s second Review by the panel of APRM eminent persons.
The President cited the promulgation of the 2010 constitution, peaceful general elections held in 2013, and implementation of the devolved system of government, the ongoing judiciary and police reforms as some of the key milestones the country has achieved.
“As a government we have nothing to be ashamed of, we have put our best efforts,” said the President.
The President pointed out that unlike before, Kenyan citizens participate in the making of laws saying, “when cabinet passes the Bill that is not the end of it.”
He said Kenyans have yet another opportunity to cast their votes under the new constitution next year August noting that the ongoing reforms are setting a conducive environment to hold peaceful elections.
The President asked the team to put up proper structures as they prepare for the second APRM summit to be held on 26th of this month on the side-lines of the Tokyo International Conference of Africa’s Development (TICAD) to be held in Nairobi.
Kenya has already completed its self-assessment and the panel of APRM eminent persons is coming to undertake the actual review which will culminate in the President being reviewed by his peers during the January 2017 APRM summit to be held Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Areas to be covered during the review include, democratisation process, corporate governance, economic management and social development.
The panel will verify the information presented by the Kenyan government in order to come up with their independent report.
President Kenyatta is the current chairman of the APRM forum of Heads of State and Government participating in the process. Since his election last year June, a lot has been achieved in revitalizing the review process.
Through his efforts the APRM secretariat based in South Africa has been stabilized and member states have started updating their contributions.
Kenya was one of the pioneers of the APRM process, having signed the Memorandum of Accession in March 2003, during the Abuja Summit that set the mechanism in motion.
Since then, the country has gone through the various stages of the APRM process, and was peer reviewed by the APR Forum at its Summit in Banjul, The Gambia, in June 2006.
The team was led to State House by the Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri and the lead APRM panellist Professor Abu Manga.
By PSCU.