Kent Mensah & Kofi Agyepong, Accra Daily Mail
November 21, 2005

The Executive Secretary of the National Africa Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council, Dr. Francis Appiah, has said that despite Africa’s endowment with natural resources, internal factors such as “senseless coups, wars and conflicts,” have made the continent poor.

Speaking at an African Peer Review Mechanism and National Development Planning Commission workshop, Dr. Appiah said that Africa would have been better-off today if it had not passed through the hands of dictators who muzzled the press and ensured a “culture of silence” coupled with corruption, maladministration and abuse of human rights.

Dr. Appiah did not blame the state of Africa’s poor situation on internal factors alone. He said external factors like unfair trade practices, debt crisis, colonialism and interference in the internal affairs of African countries by the western world have all contributed to the dismal situation of Africa.

However, he said with the advent of NEPAD, an African initiative aimed at promoting growth and alleviating poverty, the majority of African countries have the potential to achieve middle-income status in the near future.
Dr. Appiah said NEPAD and the APRM [African Peer Review Mechanism] seek to ensure democracy and good political governance through prevention and reduction in conflict, effectiveness and accountability of the public service and combating corruption.

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