MAPUTO, 4 June 2003 – Judging by the passion of arguments and amount of time spent debating the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) at the just-ended World Economic Forum`s Africa Economic Summit in Mozambique, it is clear that most African leaders do not want the world to rush them into implementing the process.

The Peer Review Mechanism is a key project of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) through which member states of the African Union can submit themselves to voluntary peer monitoring and evaluation by fellow countries on the continent.

Crucial to the success of NEPAD, the mechanism’s objective is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and policies that lead to political stability, economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration, among others, through sharing of experiences and good practices.

Critics have insisted that the mechanism should have a system of rewards and punitive measures to encourage good behaviour. But this perspective was challenged by President Joaquim Chissano, who said the peer review is a mechanism that can bring much needed change to the way the continent does business. “It is a mechanism that is supposed to cause change,” he told participants to the African Economic Summit that ended on 4 June in Maputo.

Others see the process as a means for ranking performance of African countries. But Kenya’s Planning and National Development Minister, Anyang’ Nyong’o, said that because countries would be reviewed at different times, it would not be possible to rank their performance. Kenya is among a short list of countries that have offered to be peer reviewed, along with Angola and Ghana.

“Ranking should not be an issue here,” he said in response to the perception that the first batch of countries would provide a benchmark upon which others would gauge themselves. “Whatever weakness we might have will be good lessons.”

Business leaders at the Africa Summit expressed concern on the pace at which the peer review process is moving. Events in the world are moving at a fast pace and Africans do not have the luxury of time to undertake their peer review processes, said the chairperson of audit firm PriceWaterhouse Coopers, who is also South Africa’s NEPAD Africa coordinator, Stanley Subramoney.

“We have to speed up the process of peer reviewing in order to break the cycle of poverty,” he argued. (SARDC)

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