Nepad And Governance
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NEPAD AND GOVERNANCE:
NEPAD is the abbreviation for the New Partnership for African Development. It is a pledge to promote peace and stability, democracy, sound economic management and people-centered development and hold each other accountable in terms of the agreements outlined in the program. (NEPAD policy document, P59)
ORIGIN OF NEPAD:
NEPAD came into existence as a result of Africans demonstration of their refusal to accept poor economic and political leadership. It is an African plan that aims to address the key social, economic and political priorities of the continent.
The NEPAD document is actually a Ðmerger of two separately conceived plans, the millennium Africa Recovery Plan(MAP) developed by the south African president, Thabo Mbeki and the OMEGA plan developed by the senegalese Head of State.
GOALS OF NEPAD
NEPAD has the following goals:
To eradicate poverty and sustain an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of and above 75 per annum for the next 15 years.
To place African countries, both individual and collectively, on a path of sustainable development namely:
To reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015
To enroll all children of school age in primary school by 2015.
To make progress towards gender equality and empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparities in enrolment in primary and secondary education by 2015.
To reduce maternal mortality ratios by three/quarters between 1990 and 2015.
To implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2015 and to reverse the loss of environmental resources by the sane year.
To halt the marginalization of Africa in the globalization process and enhance its full beneficial integration into the global economy
NEPAD is an indication that African leaders have learnt, from their own experiences that peace, security, democracy, good governance, human rights and sound economic management are conditions for sustainable development. Considering its goal NEPAD brings new hope for Africa, new vision and a new partnership.
NEPAD AND GOVERNANCE
Democracy and good governance according to Chabal (1992) are regarded as preconditions for development. Democratic regimes ultimately promote good governance.
NEPAD has a good initiative for democracy and governance as can be seen in the paragraph 80 of NEPAD document: “The purpose of the Democracy and Governance initiatives of NEPAD is to contribute to strengthening the political and administrative frame work of participating countries in line with the principles of democracy, transparency, accountability, integrity, respect for human rights and promotion of the rule of law.
In an essence this initiative attempts to foster the consolidation of democracy and good governance in addition to their institutional, normative and behavioral underpinnings. The initiative also sets out to empower civil society groups in order for them to play their critical Ðwatch dog role thereby holding the government accountable.
Democracy is expected, in view of the objects of this initiative, to function on the bedrock of constitutionalism, the rule of law, separation of powers, and the independence of the judiciary.
NEPAD THE SOLUTION TO GOOD GOVERNANCE
NEPAD with its goals and objectives is the solution for good governance because: