Maravi

NGOs bemoan lack of information on APRM

NGOs bemoan lack of information on APRM
By Ernest Chanda
Sun 13 June 2010, 03:10 CAT

A CONSORTIUM of nine NGOs has bemoaned the lack of transparency on information about the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

The NGOs consist of Law Association Zambia, Caritas Zambia, Anti Voter Apathy Project, Foundation for Democratic Process, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, MISA Southern Africa, NGOCC, Young Women in Action and the Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Dispute.

In a statement, the organisations complained that most of the information given about the process was outdated.

“It cannot be ignored that the Zambian people have constantly been kept in the dark regarding progress and interventions in the APRM process. As stakeholders in this national process, we have continuously been subjected to outdated and stale information including the most crucial element of the process, the national roadmap.

To date, there has been no meaningful information on the roadmap that the country is following,” the statement read. “The APRM being a process that addresses issues of governance needs to be done in a transparent manner because, after all, governance is about using collective power to manage public affairs.”

Officially, the National Governing Council (NGC’s) position has been that the country will be peer reviewed in June 2010 (now July 2010).

“If this is the case, then the process has reached its climax and the NGC should be actively informing Zambians on the current status of the process, the next steps especially what will be the Programme of Action (PoA), and the contents of the final country report. It is the NGC’s responsibility to disseminate the information without the people having to always appear to be ‘squeezing’ information out of them.”

The organisations have also questioned some of the decisions made by the APRM governing council. The NGOs reminded the APRM governing council on the need to use the process as a platform for discussion of governance issues.

Labels: APRM, NGOs, TRANSPARANCY

posted by MrK @ 4:08 AM