By Philip Mwakio

The Government has been asked to take the Nepad Africa Peer Review Mechanism seriously and implement recommendations.

A meeting of the National Governing Council for the APRM in Mombasa said some of the country’s challenges would have been avoided had the Government taken earlier APRM proposals seriously.

"The first APRM’s assessment report served as an early warning and could have helped avert last year’s crisis,’’ chairman Abdilahi Abdi said. He added that in South Africa, a similar warning had been issued ahead of the xenophobic attacks that left several people, majority of them foreigners, dead or injured.

"APRM as a tool is clearly an early warning mechanism to stop these crisis from taking place,’’ the chairman said when he read a communiquÈ at the Nyali Beach Hotel.

With him were the other members of the council, including Standard Group Deputy Chairman and Strategy Advisor Paul Melly.

During the meeting, the NGC came up with a number of recommendations, which it adopted in its strategic plan.

NGC urges the Government to provide continued commitment and leadership including speeding up reforms under the APRM’s National Programme of Action.

They called on the Government was also called on build capacity building and fund the APRM secretariat. Earlier on, the chairman said inadequate resources could hinder their work.

The NGC also committed itself to providing independent leadership, guidance and direction by mobilising stakeholders to actively engage and support the APRM process.

Public participation in the forthcoming second national review of Kenya will be made a priority. The second such exercise is slated for November 2009.