Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM) Governing Council has cautioned members of the District Oversight Committees (DOCs) against interfering in the duties and affairs of District Chief Executives, institutions and other public officials in their districts.
He emphasised that the DOCs which were being established by the NAPRM were to help oversee the implementation of the National Programme of Action (NPOA) of the APRM at the district levels and not to attack or investigate the conduct of any government official or institution.
Dr Appiah stated this at the inauguration of DOCs for four districts in the Ashanti Region at Akyawkrom, near Ejisu on Tuesday.
The districts are Ejisu-Juaben, Bosomtwe, Atwima-Kwanwoma and Asante Akim South.
Dr Appiah said the mission of the DOCs was to mobilize citizens to own, manage and disseminate the NAPRM and to participate in the monitoring and evaluation of NPOA, towards the promotion of good governance at the district levels.
Other objectives of the DOCs, he said, were to educate and sensitise community members to better understand and own the APRM process, provide a collective voice on governance issues within the district and cooperate with other networks and organizations with similar objectives.
Dr Appiah said the APRM was a new orientation which was shepherding Africa into a new dawn in its development, adding that, Ghana as a leader in the process, saw it as a stepping stone for national development through the initiative of the local people.
He called on members of the committees to be truthful and objective in their activities and to help make the APRM a household name in their communities for the people to understand and accept it as their own.
Reverend Professor S.K Adjepong, Chairman of the APRM Governing Council, who inaugurated the committees, said the review process was to promote good governance in all spheres of national endeavour.
He said Africa was blessed with many natural resources but due to bad governance the continent was unable to develop.
Rev. Prof. Adjepong said African leaders had come to realize that development could be achieved only through good governance, adding that, the APRM was a self diagnosis process to identify problems that impeded development and to develop action plans to address those challenges.
He advised the members to be disciplined and desist from any partisan acts that could bring the name and image of the process into disrepute.
Mr Yaw Ahenkora Afrifa, Municipal Chief Executive for Ejisu-Juaben said political stability brought peace, investment and development and urged the members to work to ensure that the people understood the process and contribute to the development of their respective districts.