Ho, Aug. 17, GNA - Professor S. K. B. Asante, a member of the African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM) Governing Council (GC), on Tuesday said the Mechanism and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) initiative represent very essential instruments for achieving good governance, democracy and development.

He made the point when he spoke on: "Democracy and Good Political Governance" at a forum on the APRM at Ho.

Prof. Asante pointed out that, democracy and good governance had always been the pre-occupation of the country, but this could not materialise for lack of mechanisms to facilitate the realisation of the noble objectives.

He said NEPAD and APRM represented Africa's will and determination to overcome its lost decades of instability, over-dependency, bad governance and authoritarian rule, corruption and lack of development. Prof. Asante said the onus lied with the citizenry to make the two initiatives to work effectively.

Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of National Council of the APRM, explained that the Mechanism was not targeting governments but state institutions whose work combined to ensure good governance and democracy.

He said the NAPRM Governing Council was insulated from governmental influence because it derived its support from well-established civil society organisations rather than the State or government machinery. The Executive Secretary said 19 African countries had voluntarily agreed to be subjected to the scrutiny of the mechanism and expressed optimism that like the European Union many more countries would join when the benefits began to manifest.

Dr Appiah appealed to the participants to assist in getting the citizenry to understand and to help to make the Mechanism function effectively.

Topics discussed included Economic Governance and Management, Socio-Economic Development and Corporate Governance.