President Uhuru Kenyatta today chaired the 26thAfrican Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Forum where he said Africa should take pride in the progress it has achieved in promoting good governance.
The President said despite the existing challenges, there was so much to celebrate in terms of improved governance and rapid development especially in countries that are participating in the APRM forum.
He cited the mega infrastructure projects going on in different parts of the continent as one of the easiest routes to Africa’s integration.
“Various APRM member states continue to implement mega infrastructural projects with a regional and even continental dimension. These programs are a critical part of our regional integration agenda,” said the President when he opened the APRM forum at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The President cited the Lamu Port South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor, which when completed will link up to West Africa’s Douala–Lagos–Cotonou–Abidjan Corridor, running through Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire respectively.
“This project will be a major contributor to African Union’s regional integration vision of a peaceful, prosperous and stable continent in line with our Agenda 2063,” said President Kenyatta
He also cited the massive growth in Information Communication Technology across the continent that is enabling countries like Kenya, Mali, Ghana and Nigeria to achieve massive growth in areas such as financial inclusion, telemedicine as well as political participation.
The President said the improved governance in Africa has also led to impressive gains in the critical goal of reducing maternal mortality rate which has decreased by 49 percent.
“All these positive developments, Excellencies, should energize all of us and strengthen our collective resolve to continue promoting good governance without which such development would be impossible to achieve,” said the President.
He said recent conflicts in Central African Republic, Burundi, South Sudan and Somalia remind Africans of the need for urgent, homegrown remedial responses.
“Political disagreements must never be allowed to degenerate into conflicts which disrupt livelihoods and commerce and even more tragically, take lives,” he said.
President Kenyatta said the challenges retarding Africa’s progress include lack of free and fair trade not only from traditional trading partners but also from within Africa.
“The APRM must promote greater intra-African trade that is freer and fairer,” said the President.
He also called for special focus on environmental governance within the APRM since Africa is vulnerable to climate changes.
President Kenyatta, who took over the chairmanship of the APRM in 2015, said the revitalised APRM should continue playing a more active role in Africa’s governance.
“As we strategize on how best to continue revitalizing the Africa Peer Review Mechanism, within the context of Agenda 2063, let us engage more fully with the African Union Commission,” said the President.
The President also read a statement on the progress Kenya has made under the APRM review process.
He said reforms implemented in Kenya in recent years have seen the country achieve its longest period of sustained growth since the 1960s.
“Economic growth averaged 5.5 percent during 2011–2015, which is evidence of Kenya’s economic resilience given the headwinds the country has faced from the downturn in the global economy,” said the President.
Meanwhile, President Kenyatta today launched Kenya’s final push to lobby for Cabinet Secretary Amb Amina Mohamed to become the next AU Commission chairperson.
Immediately after arrival from Nairobi, President Kenyatta held bilateral talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and later a trilateral meeting including the Ethiopian PM and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
Both meetings were aimed at strategising for how to ensure that CS Amina clinches as many votes as possible during the voting for the AU leadership on Monday.
The President is expected to hold several more talks with fellow Heads of State and Government from across Africa on the subject of CS Amina’s candidacy.
By PSCU.