UNDP to support good governance

A new United Nations Development Programme governance practice team is helping to lay the groundwork for new local government institutions and promoting government accountability in Sierra Leone, according to a statement from the UNDP on Friday. Through round tables on governance, UNDP hopes to enhance frank dialogue between representatives from the government, civil society and business. At the first such meeting, which took place earlier this month in the eastern district of Kenema, participants discussed the causes of the war and avenues towards good governance, particularly decentralisation and local governance, the agency said. At the meeting, the newly-appointed UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy, Shoji Nishimoto, described to participants the lessons from the Asian financial crisis. "I suggest you take home with you just three words that capture the lessons learned in Asia: greed, short-sightedness and 'herd' behaviour," he said. Nishimoto said that some of the wealthiest companies in Asia fell apart because of greed and following easy investment trends, instead of thinking for themselves. These organisations had to re-learn the lessons of good corporate governance, he added, noting that the same might be true for all governance processes in the aftermath of crises. "The participants clearly stated that if Sierra Leone is to move forward and experience lasting peace and stability, it will be because local governance - and transparency and accountability in all government activities - are finally put into practice," said H A Bah, representative of Sierra Leone's Ministry of Presidential Affairs. Sierra Leone has had no local government since early 1960s and ranks last on the Human Development Index 2002, on the basis of life expectancy, educational attainment and income per person, according to Friday's statement from the UNDP. The round table meetings are intended to provide input for seven papers on governance that the project will commission from Sierra Leonean social scientists. Those papers, in turn, are designed to help the government and its partners prepare a road map to guide good governance initiatives and the country's development in the 21st century.