Accra, Ghana, 19 July 2024 – H.E. Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose Quatre, the newly appointed CEO of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Continental Secretariat, led a delegation to the Statutory and Political Meetings of the African Governance Platform, which were held in Accra, Ghana on 16–17 July 2024.
The meetings culminated in a joint commemoration of the 20th Anniversaries of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC), the Economic, Social Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the APRM. In their opening remarks, H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) and Hon. Wilson Almeida Adão, Chairperson of the AGA-APSA Platform at the Political Level, both welcomed Amb. Rose Quatre, and congratulated the APRM on its accomplishments in the past 20 years.
In her first address to the AGA Political Platform, Amb. Rose Quatre presented a nuanced description of the nexus between governance, peace and security. She highlighted the role of governance in peace and security, recalling the historic and contemporary experiences in that regard, citing developments wherein countries’ improved material and social conditions have led to stability, and instances where declining material conditions of people have led to instability.
Amb. Rose Quatre informed the platform that “this relationship was confirmed by the findings of the Africa Governance Report 2023 on unconstitutional changes of government. An examination of the causes, catalysts and triggers of unconstitutional change of government revealed that deficits in democratic governance expressed through several aspects were primarily responsible for the events. These include deficits in diversity management and human rights, constitutionalism and state legitimacy, integrity of elections, public sector accountability and economic governance broadly.
Concluding her remarks, Amb. Rose Quatre presented the focus of her leadership by firstly indicating the significance of ensuring that the APRM continues to invest in strengthening the institution through professionalism, probity and performance. She spoke of the need to invest in a results-based approach to ensure enhanced performance as well as prioritising integrity. She also highlighted the importance of deepening engagement at the Member State level a) to ensure that there is visibility of the work of APRM within the African Union, and b) to ensure that the primary beneficiaries of the work of the Union are the citizen of those countries.
The CEO underscored the need to strengthen the linkages amongst members of the Platform, to deepen and refine the relationships through, amongst others, joint programmes and resource-sharing. She also thanked the platform for adopting the recommendation of the Extraordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) Subcommittee on Human Rights, Democracy and Governance (HRDG), held on 15 June 2024 in Bujumbura, Burundi, that the Africa Governance Report 2025 be focused on “Natural Resource Governance in Africa”. She also called on all members of the platform to participate in the development of the report.
