Development forum urges focus on good governance

Africa needs to focus on several challenges to support good governance, the United Nations African Development Forum (ADF) concluded on Friday. These goals, the ADF said in a statement, included ensuring checks and balances to hold governments accountable, as well as encouraging an active media, civil society and strong opposition.

"The lack of checks and balances in some African countries undermines good governance," Kinglsey Amoako, head of the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, told the forum. "Africa’s overarching challenge is to create strong, capable states."

The ADF, which was attended by several participants, called on African governments to be "transparent and accountable" by providing information to the media without interference or intimidation. It blamed low funding and poor skills among civil servants for poor states and called for the greater devolvement of power from central government to the local level to improve decision-making methods.

The forum noted that harnessing traditional governance could play a vital role in improving states on the continent and helping face realities presented by globalisation and economic development.

"Traditional governance systems can play a vital role in strengthening societies to adapt to these changes, as has happened in Japan and South Korea," the statement said. "While important, democratisation has failed to meet broad social responsibilities, as it has not been founded on societal values."

Corruption, the forum noted, also needed to be tackled with the "resources and power" to effectively prosecute corrupt individuals at all levels of society.

Participants further emphasised that the private sector, which they described as a key engine of growth, remains largely untapped. The ADF said the private sector lacked access to human and financial resources. It also said the sector suffers from erratic state management and inconsistent applications of the law.

They also said the role of women must be addressed to boost development. The ADF has agreed to track and monitor governments to ensure gender equality is promoted. It was HIV/AIDS that delegates agreed posed the major challenge.

"HIV/AIDS reduces economic growth potential and private sector employment opportunities and erodes the tax base, negatively affecting domestic resource mobilisation," the ADF added. "Stigma and denial remain key barriers to addressing HIV/AIDS effectively."