President Uhuru Kenyatta rallies leaders to revive Pan-Africanism

President Kenyatta and Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during the 23rd Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the APRM in South Africa. Kenya will host the APRM meeting on September 11. [PHOTO: FILE/ STANDARD]

President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to consolidate his budding Pan-Africanist credentials when he hosts more than 15 African Heads of State in Nairobi to revive the fledgling African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

In a growing pattern of a President who has set his sights farther, Kenyatta is championing the revival of the APRM, an initiative which appears to have lost steam through inaction of governments and criticism of scholars.

He has convened an extraordinary summit of the committee of Heads of State and governments of the 35 member club who review each others' democratic, economic and corporate governance. The meeting is set for September 11.

Kenyatta was elected chair of APRM Forum during the 23rd summit of Heads of State and government held in South Africa in June. His election was proposed by South Africa President Jacob Zuma and seconded by Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.

Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf chaired the forum before Kenyatta. At the South African summit, she had complained the Ebola outbreak had distracted her leadership and wanted another term but Zuma and company would hear none of it.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta is an immensely popular Pan-Africanist among his peers. His sociable and down-to-earth approach to tackling seemingly monumental challenges has endeared him to his peers and African masses alike.”

“We were, therefore, not surprised when his peers unanimously voted him into that position. Clearly, they were not wrong in putting their confidence in him because he hit the ground running. Now we are at the throes of a special summit which we are confident will be a turning point for the APRM and its transformative agenda,” Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru told The Standard on Sunday yesterday.

She said Kenya’s diplomatic profile among the community of Nations has also been boosted even as more high profile meetings are held in the country.

“In addition, the heroic performance of our athletes only serves to cement our position up there,” Ms Waiguru added. Since election under the yoke of International Criminal Court (ICC) charges, Kenyatta adopted a nationalistic and pan-Africanist foreign policy which appears to have outshone his peers.

In October 12, 2013 during an extraordinary African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Kenyatta gave one of the most fiery pan-Africanist speeches of recent times describing the West as declining imperial powers crushing on “pits of penury.”

“The spirit of African pride and sovereignty has withstood centuries of severe tribulation. I invoke that spirit of freedom and unity today before you. It is a spirit with a voice that rings through all generations of human history. It is the eternal voice of majestic spirit which will never die,” he said.

Through diplomatic and political pressure by the AU and Kenya, his ICC case began to crumble and was eventually withdrawn. All through, the president endeared himself to the AU and bestrode the continent like a colossus. Expected to attend the Nairobi meeting is President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who is reputed by his peers for his “wealth of experience” having been the President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979 when Kenyatta was a teenager.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt has confirmed attendance. El-Sisi first came to power in 2014 after ousting Mohamed Morsi but was later elected. Morsi has since been sentenced to hang for plotting jail-breaks and attacks on police.

Museveni of Uganda, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President HaileMariam Desalegn of Ethiopia are also expected to be the country for the forum.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will attend as will Abdeaziz Bouteflika of Algeria. Bouteflika is serving his fourth term of presidency. Other Heads of State set to attend the extraordinary summit to revive APRM are Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh, Zuma and Sirleaf.

Bouteflika - who survived the Arab spring- is set to present a paper on the “philosophy of APRM” while Kagame is set to be the main discussant of the presentation.

Sirlef will present on the “role of APRM in monitoring of AU agenda 2063 and post 2015 sustainable development goals” which will be discussed by Desalegn.

Mbasongo, the foremost “legend” of African leadership will talk about resource mobilisation for APRM which will be discussed by President Macky Sall of Senegal. Derby will present a paper on “enforcing compliance with APRM principles” which will be discussed by Djibouti’s strongman Guelleh.

Zuma will discuss integration of APRM into the AU alongside El-Sisi of Egypt. Museveni and Buhari, both military men who turned out to be presidents, will review the APRM “tool and methodology.”

Kenyatta the host, will present an overall overview of the concept of revitalizing the APRM which will be discussed by Kagame.

“APRM seems to have lost its momentum, since it is voluntarily acceded into, so far 35 countries are members of the APRM with only 17 countries having been reviewed. The loss of momentum is attributable to various challenges currently confronting the Mechanism.”

“This is the reason why President Kenyatta, the current Chairperson proposed and offered to host an Extra-Ordinary Summit to deliberate on strategies for revitalising the Mechanism,” Waiguru said.

At the end of each session, the Presidents are expected to make recommendations on the way forward.
At its prime in 2006, Kenya was reviewed in a highly publicised process which was led by former South African first lady Graca Machel. Kenya’s second country review has dragged on for years now.

Waiguru says Kenya benefited a lot from the first review. She says arising from the review, Kenya has undertaken monumental governance transformation which commenced with the promulgation of a new Constitution five years ago.