By Abass Jalloh
The government of Sierra Leone is playing host to a delegation from the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
The 7-man delegation arrived in the country on Thursday, 19th November. Officials say the purpose of their visit is to systematically assess and review Sierra Leone’s governance structure in order to promote political stability, continental economic growth, and sustainable development, among other objectives.
The review, the officials added, is in line with an agreement amongst African states to independently review their compliance with African and international governance commitments. Each review lists a national programme of action for the states concerned to address problems that are identified.
Speaking at the Ministry of Information and Communication’s weekly press briefing last Thursday, Deputy Minister of Political and Public Affairs, Amara Kallon, explained that after the New Partnership for African Development (NePAD), under which the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Project (CAADeP) agreed to set up a self-monitoring tool which would make sure that any policy or development that has been agreed in those documents is being implemented across those participating countries under the African Union (AU).
“The objective of this field mission is to identify key issues in the Health Governance and Covid-19 in Sierra Leone as a way for the country to strengthen its local health system. We know that there is a breakdown of our health system, but thanks to the President and team for being proactive to master and prepare the ground well for us to be able to contain the Covid-19,” Kallon told journalists.
The APRM is an instrument used to make sure that African countries are able to peer-review themselves, and are able to sit and understand what other African countries are doing, and other African countries in return would be able to determine whether the recommendations or the best practices from those reports can be introduced in other countries.
Kallon added that it was from the CAADeP document in 2007 that they developed and established the National Sustainable Agricultural Development Programme, which was to use Agriculture for socioeconomic development of Sierra Leone. He further stated that they have done the baseline review for Sierra Leone, which is called the First Generational Review, between 2012 and 2014, and that soon they would send out the recommendations.
The APRM is an entity that African member States voluntarily acceded to with the mandate of promoting and facilitating self-monitoring on the basis of four key pillars: democratic governance; fiscal management, which is for the economic status of the country; corporate governance; and socioeconomic, which is for service delivery of the economy.
As part of the Committee’s targeted review, they will be looking at all government and non-governmental sectors.
Sierra Leone is just one of many countries on the continent, including Niger and Mali, that are undergoing the Health Governance and Covid-19 review.
The visiting delegation to Sierra Leone comprises members from Gambia, South Africa and Kanya.
“There are still loopholes and the scientific thinking that every 100 years there is possibility for the world to witness a pandemic like this flu. A country like us, we need to first of all be able to understand our health infrastructure, how it is as at present, and what we can do to make sure that we prepare for any other outbreak. This review would be able to look at that critically,” Kallon said.
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