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The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a voluntary African governance promotion tool, now boasts an unprecedented 34 member states, 17 of which have completed their first reviews. But a lack of political enthusiasm for it - especially by heads of state - is endangering its relevance and impact on governance.
After the high point of last year's tenth year anniversary celebrations, it was back to business as usual at the 29 January 2014 APRM Forum meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the fringes of the African Union Summit. Only one new member country - Equatorial Guinea - joined the mechanism, contrary to the expectations that both Cape Verde and Côte d'Ivoire would also accede. In addition, only two existing members - South Africa and Mozambique - presented their progress reports, despite the expectation that three others would do so as well.
While the accession by Equatorial Guinea raised eyebrows among some observers, this could be a welcome signal that the country might, at last, be willing to begin an internal and regional discussion around governance concerns.
The absence of the presidents of Benin, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone at the Forum meant that these countries were removed from the final programme.
Conceptualised as a continental instrument for improving governance in Africa across four thematic areas (democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development), the APRM was...