APRM • SECOND COUNTRY REVIEW REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA CHAPTER ONE 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The APRM and its Implementation in Kenya 1. “The mandate of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is to ensure that the policies and practices of participating states conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards contained in the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. The APRM is the mutually agreed instrument for self-monitoring by the participating member governments.”NEPAD/HSGIC/03-2003/ APRM/MOU/Annex II 1.2 The APRM Process 2. The APRM is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by Member States of the African Union (AU) as a self-monitoring mechanism for good governance. The African Peer Review (APR) process entails periodic reviews of the policies and practices of participating states to ascertain progress being made towards achieving mutually agreed goals and compliance with agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards, as outlined in the AU’s Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance [APRM Base Document, Paragraph 15]. 3. The APRM has, at its epicentre, the deepening of democratic practices, with a view to strengthening achievements, disseminating best practices and rectifying underlying deficiencies in governance and socioeconomic development processes among AU Member States. The aim is to encourage and build a transformative leadership through a selfassessment process that is inclusive and participatory, constructive national dialogue, and the sharing of information and common experiences, in order to reinforce successful and exemplary practices among African countries. 4. The evaluation involves a dual process of self-assessment by the participating country, and of external independent evaluation, led by the APR Panel of Eminent Persons (APR Panel), which culminates in a peer review by participating Heads of State and Government. 5. The APRM is open to all Member States of the AU, and so far 35 Member Countries have voluntarily acceded, as indicated in Box 1 Accession entails undertaking to submit to periodic peer reviews, as well as to facilitate such reviews, and to be guided by agreed parameters for good political and economic governance, socio-economic development and corporate governance. | 55 |