By: Mohamed M. Sesay
During the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of States staged in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio has humbly requested the Assembly to adopt the Africa Governance Report-2023 including the recommendations contained therein. He also encouraged Member States and all stakeholders mentioned in the report to implement the recommendations emanating from the report.
At the 16th Extraordinary Session on terrorism and unconstitutional changes of government held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in May 2022, President Bio said they requested the APRM and AGA to refocus the Africa Government Report – 2023 on unconstitutional changes of government.
Pursuant to these decisions, he added that the APRM and AGA developed the Africa Governance Report 2023 focusing on unconstitutional changes of government. He said the Report was developed by utilizing the APRM methodologies of targeted reviews, high-level consultations and validations as well as expert thematic analysis.
President Bio continued that the following Member States undertook targeted reviews on unconstitutional changes of government as part of the AGR-2023 such as; the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Chad, the Union of Comoros and the Republic of Guinea. He intimated that the Republic of Sudan agreed to utilize the APRM Governance Gap Analysis Report on the country as a review for purposes of the development of the AGR-2023.
“Allow me to thank the Heads of State and Government of these Member States that undertook targeted reviews on unconstitutional changes of government. The targeted reviews formed the foundational case studies for the Africa Governance Report 2023. I also wish to thank all Heads of State and Government that took part in the virtual High-Level Validation of the AGR-2023 on 7 February 2023 and the 32nd APR Forum of Heads of State and Government that approved the report on 9 February 2023. Additionally, I also wish to sincerely thank all AU structures that contributed to the development of the Report”, he said.
President Bio furthered that at the 32nd Summit of the APR Forum, they received the inaugural National Governance Report of the Republic of Kenya. He added that the report was developed pursuant to Assembly Decision 720(XXXII) which requested Member States to develop national governance reports as a self-assessment tool for promoting good governance. He said The APR Forum commended H.E William Ruto, the Government of the Republic of Kenya for being the first to develop the national governance report.
Pursuant to its mandate to promote democracy and good governance and share best practices at national, regional and continental levels, President Bio also intimated that the APRM, under the auspices of H.E Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, held the Third APRM Annual Youth Symposium in Kampala, Uganda in July 2022 and the Second Africa-High Level Forum on South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development in Kampala, Uganda in January 2023.