Executive Summary Background This report owes its origin to two presentations made by H. E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, at two different meetings of the APR Forum of Heads of State and Government of APRM-Participating Countries – the 23rd APR Forum held in June 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the 25 th APR Forum held in August 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. In what he called the ―Eleven (11) bottlenecks facing Africa‖, the President identified issues that needed to be addressed for Africa to launch itself on the path of sustainable transformation. Furthermore, he also proposed that these were ―pertinent areas for review‖ that ―should be discussed and considered as part of the [APRM] tool.‖ 1 The 11 Bottlenecks in the President‘s list are:            Ideological disorientation; Interference with the private sector; Under-developed infrastructure; Weak states, especially weak institutions such as the Army, Police, etc.; Fragmented markets, market access and expansion; Lack of industrialisation and low value addition; Under-development of human resources; Under-development of agriculture; Under-development of the services sector; Attacks on democracy and governance; and A non-responsive civil service. The President discussed each of these bottlenecks in detail, explained why each one works to choke Africa‘s efforts towards socio-economic transformation, and concluded with an APRM-specific recommendation that ―when countries are being Peer reviewed, it is important to see how far we have gone in eliminating these bottlenecks‖. 2 The President‘s presentation was warmly received by his Peers, who expanded on the bottlenecks. One additional issue that emerged from Summit deliberations, first mentioned by H. E. President Macky Sall of Senegal, concerned the poor state of domestic resource mobilisation in Africa, with particular emphasis on the meagre fiscal revenues generated from the Continent‘s abundant natural resources. The APR Forum welcomed the presentation from H. E. President Museveni and the interventions from other Heads of State and Government and instructed the APRM Secretariat to prepare a report for their next meeting. It was during internal discussions at the APRM Secretariat that a 13 th bottleneck was identified, that of structural inequalities in access to opportunities. Responding to the instruction from the APR Forum, this document was produced by the APRM Secretariat under the overall guidance of Prof. Eddy Maloka, CEO of the APRM Secretariat. Objective of the Study The primary objective of this study is to examine the governance-related aspects of these bottlenecks from an APRM perspective, explore whether or to what extent the APRM already deals with them, and propose means by which the APRM can make further contributions in the effort to tackle them over the long term. Methodology The report was prepared primarily based on desk research, relying heavily on the 17 country review reports (CRRs) that had been already published at the time the study was undertaken. Other sources also consulted include relevant institutional reports and the academic literature. Finally, an online survey was also conducted posing questions to an audience of around 1000 stakeholders in the field of African governance, including APRM professionals from many Member States, which elicited some 140 written responses. While this was not meant to be a scientific survey, and impossible to disaggregate, the exercise helped to gather the views of multiple stakeholders around the continent. The report was also informed by a close consideration of APRM governance standards as well as Agenda 2063, which provided the context for the analyses. 1 2 Discussion Paper, p. 2. Discussion Paper, p. 12. 7