Tamale, Aug 14, GNA - Dr. Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (NAPRM-GC), said on Tuesday that the institution of NAPRM "is to entrench democracy, the rule of law and good governance in Africa".

He said NAPRM also indicated the emergence of a new Africa, which had learnt from the mistakes of the past and was now ready to chart a new path that would position it to compete favourably with other countries as equal partners to bring economic prosperity to her citizens.

Dr. Appiah said this at the 7th Africa Governance Forum National Consultation Workshop in Tamale.

The NAPRM-GC in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organised the forum on the theme: "Building capable states in Africa".

Dr. Appiah said the lack of capacity of state institutions, civil society organisations and non-state actors had been identified as the greatest challenge to the implementation of the APRM and there was therefore the need for the forum to devise effective sustainable strategies to help build capable states in Africa.

Dr Appiah said it was essential for a capable state to have certain defined structures and shared values.

He said the most critical factors required for the development of a capable state was; a people centred and visionary leadership, embedded institutional autonomy, autonomy of technical expertise and a vibrant and articulate civil society.

He said irrespective of a country's state of development or culture, there were certain laws and principles such as the rule of law, human rights and education that were universally ascribed. Mr. Sam Cudjoe, Principal Programme Officer of NAPRM-GC, said Ghana had established the decentralised local government system, instituted measures to fight crime and created an enabling environment for its citizens to carry out their businesses peacefully.

He explained that there had existed a mutual suspicion between government and civil society organisations adding that the APRM was therefore an avenue, which could foster meaningful dialogue between the two.