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The Kigali Africa Governance Forum brought African leaders closer to their people

By: Jerry Okungu

[ Posted On: 2006-05-19 ]

Paul Kagame is one of the youngest African presidents there is today. In fact other than Laurent Kabila of the DRC and the President of Burundi, Kagame is one of the most assertive and forceful young leaders we have in this part of the continent.

When he shared the closing session with his guest, the President of Burkina Faso, there was positive energy between them. They complimented one another in style and tempo. Their heights and mannerisms complemented one another so well.

What made the session so enriching was the fact that despite so many invitations having gone out to scores of Heads of State, it was Campaore who saw it fit to honour the invitation. In hind sight, it is always never common for African Heads of State to show up if they have advance information that they might be interrogated by their citizens in an open forum.

Having said that, the performance of the two presidents on a whole range of issues ranging from the African Peer Review Mechanism, the NEPAD agenda, the continent's relations with Western donors, Western media and the rich nations of the Northern Hemisphere was a sterling performance. Their responses to these sensitive issues were forthright but civil. The message was clear. Africa had decided to be its own master

Contributions from Benin, Congo Brazzaville, Senegal and Tanzania were as tasking as they come but this did not cow the two presidents. They remained cool, collected and sometimes fiery to the very end. There was a comical moment when Benin's focal point started blaming Africa's poverty and problems on Western slavery and exploitation. However Kagame did not let him off the hook slightly. He reminded the minister that African slavery was a historical fact; however, it was not the 18th century slavery that was stagnating Africa. It was the inward looking nature of modern leaders in the continent that was responsible for our stagnation.

Kagame wondered aloud why the continent always ran to the developed countries crying that the World Trade Organization was stifling their entry into markets in distant lands yet the same Africans could not open up their borders to trade with next door neighbours!

Fielding questions raised by journalists present regarding the emerging trend of incumbent African Heads of State bulldozing their parliaments amending their national constitutions to allow them to stay longer in power, Kagame skirted around the issue claiming that as a sitting president it would not be in his interest to comment on an issue affecting his colleagues in other parts of the continent. However, Burkina Faso's president found it easy to take the question head on. He confessed that the trend was worrying with consequences of loss on the gains the continent had made and continued to make social reforms. He intimated that the problem was serious enough to warrant a discussion at the next Summit meeting in Banjul, the Gambia in the coming July.

On the question of delayed APRM reports for countries that had completed their self assessment processes, delegates impressed upon acceding African states to show more commitment by investing substantially in NEPAD and APRM capacity building and provide enough resources for the continental, regional and national offices to boost their output. It was not lost on observers that since 2003, only three countries had successfully completed their assessments while only one had finalized the process. Bearing in mind that today there were 25 countries waiting on the queue, it was critical that manpower and resources at all levels of the APRM processes were addressed with the agency it required.

A parallel Media Forum had earlier noticed that if the media was not mainstreamed into the NEPAD -APRM agenda, the current disconnect between the two initiatives and the media in the continent would continue to manifest itself. The Media Forum recommended that a Media Desk be created at the NEPAD- APRM Secretariat to streamline the management of information flow between the two initiatives and media outlets throughout the continent.

Francophone and other non-English speaking countries were not amused that most of the literature on NEPAD-APRM emanating from both secretariats were hardly in their languages. It was in the interest of the entire continent to receive the same information on a regular basis in all official languages spoken in Africa

It also provided a good opportunity for the continent's political leadership to meet and exchange views with the media on issues of serious concern to the continent. Of significant concern was the feeling that the press was always hostile to the regimes in power, often writing disparaging if not inaccurate stories about political leaders in the continent while ignoring the many achievements that progressive leaderships had accomplished.

Journalists at the forum acknowledged that there were serious communication gaps between political governors and the media. This lack of information, coupled with inadequate training, lack of resources and general capacity deficiencies in many parts of the continent worked against serious journalistic professionalism. The media therefore impressed it upon the continent's leaders to invest more in media training and improve on making information available to the media in a less restricted manner.

Responding to this contribution, Burkina Faso's President pledged the establishment of an international Press Institute in Burkina Faso to cater for the training of journalists as a way of enhancing capacity and professionalism in the media industry.

But perhaps the biggest resolution to come out of the forum was the reaffirmation that despite sceptics and pessimists disparaging and predicting the failure of the two initiatives to deliver Africa out of its present morass, African governments had committed themselves to the goals and ideals of NEPAD and APRM and there was no going back.

Regarding countries that had not acceded to the process, the forum was informed that seven of them had been invited as observers to help them understand and deepen their knowledge and benefits of the APRM. It was stressed that since the process was voluntary it was necessary to allow countries to accede only when they were convinced that being peer reviewed by their colleagues was a moral obligation to their citizens and the rest of the continent.

Although not raised, issues of conflicts spots like Darfur, Somalia and renegade states like Zimbabwe were discussed in low tones letting others wonder aloud whether the African Union, the father and mother of the two initiatives was capable of instilling discipline in the continent.

Having organized a most successful forum for the continent to dialogue with its leaders, UNDP was encouraged to organize more such forums especially for the media at the regional level to deepen the media's understanding and participation in Africa's reform agenda.

ADDENDUM

RESOLUTION BY AFRICAN JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA PRACTITIONERS AT THE KIGALI GOVERNANCE FORUM:

WE THE AFRICAN JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA PRACTITIONERS THAT ATTENDED THE MEDIA FORUM OF THE SIXTH AFRICA GOVERNANCE FORUM,

HAVING DELIBERATED ON FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES AFFECTING OUR CONTINENT,

HAVING RECOGNIZED THE NEED TO TREAT THE EFFORTS OF THE NEPAD/ APRM PROCESSES WITH THE SERIOUSNESS THAT THEY DESERVE,

HEREBY RESOLVE TO PARTICIPATE ACTIVELY IN THE REALIZATION OF THE APRM/ NEPAD GOALS, PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES.

BEARING IN MIND THE FOREMENTIONED ABOVE,

PASSED THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED BY THE UNDP AND NEPAD/APRM POLICY ORGANS AS FOLLOWS:

1. APRM AND NEPAD ORGANS SHOULD COMMIT THEMSELVES TO INVOLVE THE PRESS BY MAINSTREAMING ITS PROFESSIONALS IN THEIR ACTIVITIES FOR EFFECTIVE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION ON THE TWO INITIATIVES AND THEIR ACTIVITIES

2. THE APRM AND NEPAD SHOULD INITIATIVE AN ACTIVE PROCESS OF HOLDING JOINT FORUMS WITH MEDIA IN VARIOUS REGIONS OF AFRICA TO EDUCATE EACH OTHER ON THEIR DIFFERENT ROLES IN THE ENTIRE PROCESS

3. THE APRM/NEPAD DOCUMENTS SHOULD BE TRANSLATED INTO ALL OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF AFRICA IF THEIR MESSAGES ARE TO PEARMEATE THE ENTIRE CONTINENT

4. INFORMATION GATHERED AND ISSUES DISCUSSDED AT THE FORUM BE DISTRIBUTED TO MEDIA PARTICIPATS FOR SHARING WITH COLLEAGUES BACK HOME AND FOR USE IN LOCAL MEDIA IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES

5. A MEDIA NETWORK OF JOURNALISTS ON APRM/NEPAD BE ESTABLISHED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MEDIA /JOURNALISTS DESK AT THE APRM/ NEPAD SECRETARIATS TO STRENGTHEN THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF JOURNALISTS IN THE REVIEW, MONITORING AND EVALUATION PROCESSES.

Jerry Okungu (For Participants)
Kigali, Rwanda
May 10, 2006

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author:

Jerry Okungu is a freelance political analyst based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jerry also serves as a Board Director at The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Jerry has written extensively on issues affecting Kenya and the rest of Africa over the years. He can be reached at Jerryokungu[at]hotmail.com. Other articles written by Jerry Okungu are available at this location

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