International organizations and the diplomatic community have commended Ghana for moving the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process from a concept to a reality.

UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Daouda Toure, who spoke on behalf of the International organizations, said "We wish to commend Ghana for taking a bold step and sticking to it; it shows how the government is eager to achieve development for its people. By going through this scrutiny of all aspects of life, this country has indeed shown the way".

He was speaking last week at the launch of Ghana's APRM Country Report and programme of actions to the diplomatic community and international organizations in the country.

He noted that though Ghana has subjected herself to be reviewed by her peers; the real issue now is the implementation of the Programme of Action and the recommendations made by the panel.

"There is a price for being the first in a class. Everybody is looking at Ghana's experience and to learn from it besides the challenges of implementing its Programme of Action", he said.
Mr. Daouda Toure said Ghana is also challenged as a pioneer, to ensure that the implementation is effective and leads to the attainment of the desired results. This he said would encourage the rest of the continent to accede to and implement the APRM process. "The task ahead is enormous and calls for concerted and collaborative effort from all fronts led by the government".
Mr. Daouda Toure noted that in recognition of this, UNDP is consulting with its sister organizations within the broader UN system in Ghana and other development partners on how best the government and people of Ghana can be assisted to implement the Programme of Action.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, Nana Akufo- Addo who spoke as a guest speaker said the APRM is an important step in the government's quest to build a democratic, accountable and transparent system of government.
"This is the very goal to which, happily for the people of Ghana, the martyrs and statesmen who shaped the ideology of the governing New Patriotic Party committed her nearly 60 years ago", he said.
Nana Akufo- Addo appealed to the international community to look at Ghana's APRM achievements so far and the country's appreciable record on good governance and help the country benefit from an EU Incentive Tranche Facility (EUITF), which is earmarked for the execution and monitoring of actions and policies that improve political, socio-economic, corporate and economic governance.
Presenting highlights of the report, Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (NAPRM-GC) Secretariat, said respondents identified low real wages and salaries in the public sector, weak or ineffective powers of prosecution of corruption cases, the gift-giving culture, nepotism and patronage and the weak code of conduct of public officials as some factors contributing to corruption in the country.
About 52 per cent of respondents perceived corruption as a common feature of the Ghanaian public administration, while 27 per cent see it as occurring only in isolated cases.
Six per cent regarded corruption as systemic and endemic while nearly 40 per cent felt it was on the decline.
While respondents expressed their satisfaction with the ongoing institutional approaches to fighting corruption, they mentioned weak institutions and weak commitment to fight corruption to the complex court and administration procedures in prosecuting corruption cases as some of the challenges in the fight against corruption.
Besides they argued that institutional reforms must be accompanied by a strong commitment to enforce the rules in actual practice and organizations tasked with implementing anti-corruption programmes be adequately resourced and funded to deliver. The Report urged the Government to cooperate with civil society and private business organizations to improve performance of corruption control.
There is also the need to pass the Whistleblower Bill and Freedom of Information Bill as soon as possible and implement them fully in addressing the problems.
Further to these recommendations, the Report called for institutional and organizational changes to facilitate the oversight role for Parliament in the area of Public Finance through regular reporting of revenue and spending of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
In addition, Parliament was tasked to take its oversight role beyond the budgeting stage to include aspects of implementation.
On democracy and good governance, the Report praised Ghana as a haven of peace in an otherwise volatile region and lauded the unique institutions such as the National Commission on Civic Education and processes that other African countries could emulate or adopt.
There was also a recommendation to improve corporate governance through a review of legal and regulation framework governing corporate activity and making them to conform to international standards. There was also the need to define land ownership to promote investment and ease lending requirements to enhance the growth of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).
Respondents also gave thumbs up for the country's socio-economic development, praising increased enrolment in schools, access to health and the remarkable progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
However, there was the call for the country to reduce the high dependency on external partners and to work towards attainment of equity in development as far as the three Northern regions are concerned.
Dr Appiah said the issues of low capacity constraints, gender disparity, corruption among other things needed to be successfully addressed to move the socio-economic development process forward.
Nine cross-cutting issues are raised in the report. They are capacity constraints, gender disparities, corruption, decentralization, land issues, chieftaincy, unemployment, external dependency and brain drain.
Professor Samuel Adjepong, Chairman, NAPRM-GC, said the implementation of the various recommendations contained in the Report is the collective responsibility of all Ghanaians.
He said the implementation of the Programme of Action would address the shortcomings and weaknesses that had been a drawback to the country's quest for socio-economic development and poverty reduction