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Parliamentarians want to be involved
12/2004 |
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[ NEPAD ]
Parliamentarians want to be involved
According to African parliamentarians, NEPAD and the African Peer Reviews are progressive initiatives, which strengthen good governance. However, there have been hardly any apparent tangible results so far. Members of parliament in the participating states are critical, above all, of the parliaments not being included from the outset. The deficiencies in the parliamentary monitoring of the executive branch that result from this are difficult to solve because of the parliaments’ inadequate funding.
[ By Ulf Terlinden ]
A mixed impression is emerging for members of parliament in the assessment of participation in the “New Partnership for Africa’s Development” (NEPAD) and the “African Peer Review Mechanism” (APRM). Parliamentarians criticise that the participating heads of government had already discussed the NEPAD process with the G8 nations, long before the parliaments were informed of it. The parliaments were not entitled to any formal task within NEPAD. Even in the urgently required “popularisation” of the process, no use has been made of the MPs’ potential yet.
Otherwise, the inclusion of parliaments as “stakeholders” within the scope of APRM is expressly mentioned, praised the parliamentarians at an exchange of views at InWEnt's “Development Policy Forum” at the end of October in Berlin. In practice, however, this is also not effected to the extent required, they criticise. For a start, many MPs were often lacking fundamental knowledge of NEPAD and APRM. On the other hand, participation of parliamentarians in the day to day proceedings tends to be erratic. The key, therefore, is to primarily improve the flow of information.
Two years have passed since African heads of state and government decided to fix good governance in the framework of NEPAD by establishing the APRM. The governance performance of a country, which is systematically appraised by external and internal experts, is regarded as an innovative monitoring instrument for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Several months ago, the first four peer reviews began in Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Rwanda. For the approximately 40 African MPs from national and regional parliaments, who were invited by the German Ministry of Development, InWEnt and the European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA) to discuss the role of parliaments in the NEPAD/ APRM process, the first interim result was positive. It strengthens good governance and demonstrates a suitable foundation for relationships with the North, based on partnership. At the same time, it is part of a more comprehensive African agenda, in which good governance has it own historical roots.
Nevertheless, the remaining challenges must not be overlooked: so far, it is difficult to identify any tangible results. Yet the conference agreed that both processes can only be assessed over a longer term.
The question on how other states can be moved to join the APRM remained open. Only 23 of the 53 members of the African Union (AU) are participating to date. The voluntary principle is questioned by the Pan-African Parliament. How the findings of the evaluation processes can be translated into binding political action also remains wide open. Experiences from the APRM’s pilot scheme in Ghana and Kenya show that first and foremost, it must be regarded as an inclusive consultation process, during which the players develop a shared understanding of the requirements of good governance.
African parliamentarians feel they are being restricted in their work due to inadequate funding and a lack of human resources in parliament. Furthermore, the lack of access to information hinders their ability to effectively monitor governments. For example, 300 Ugandan Members of Parliament have to share sixteen research staff.
It is just as important to make better use of the existing windows of opportunity. A more intensive cooperation of parliaments at the national, regional and continental levels would enable the parliaments to have more access to NEPAD and APRM, without their strained relationship to the executive branch effectively being able to hinder this.
Ulf Terlinden
is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Development Research
(ZEF) at the University of Bonn.
ulf@ulf-terlinden.de
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