REGIONAL MEETING ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA CONCLUDES IN WINDHOEK

Press Release
DEV/2105

REGIONAL MEETING ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA CONCLUDES IN WINDHOEK

African public administration should broadly focus on long-term governance issues rather than only on the short-term narrow aspects of cost and size. It should emphasize the development of human capital, including staff training, citizen awareness and education, as well as democratization and protection of civil liberties. Efforts aimed at improving public administration system should involve tarde unions, chambers of commerce, and non-governmental organizations in both policy formulation and execution.

Those were among recommendations adopted at the end of a three-day African regional meeting on the theme of Public Administration and Development: From Structural Adjustment to Improved Efficiency in Government, held in Windhoek from 25 to 28 March.

Participants also recommended that national governments, with donor assistance, should mobilize resources for retaining, attracting and effectively using qualified human resources, reversing the brain drain, and developing enabling environment which would prepare African public administration for the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Government officials and public administrators from 25 African countries at the meeting noted that while some bold mechanisms had been put in place to enforce accountability in Africa's public administration systems, there was still a need to strengthen most of them, especially electoral systems, anti- corruption measures, citizen participation, codes of ethics, citizen charters or consumer councils, education and skills training.

Among other recommendations, countries should adopt stringent anti- corruption measures, including the adoption of a code of ethics, the obligation of public officials to declare assets, and the provision of adequate resources to ensure effective enforcement as a way of curbing harmful effects of corrupt practices on development. Participants also called on developed countries to join hands with African and other developing countries in combating corrupt practices associated with international trade -- the so-called "trade bribes".

- 2 - Press Release DEV/2105 29 March 1996

The meeting, which was co-sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of France, was the last of a series of meetings and conferences that have been held to prepare for the resumed General Assembly session on public administration and development, scheduled for 15 to 19 April.

Opening the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Rev. Hendrik Witbooi, stated that unless an effective and efficient public administrative system was established in African countries, economic development would always remain a pipe dream. "Our respective governments on the continent have been haunted by ... lack of capacity to formulate and implement appropriate policies and programmes; improper allocation and utilization of resources; wastage of scarce natural and human resources and the inevitable decrease in morale and motivation, which are all significant contributions to the poor performance of our national economies. This situation is exacerbated when structural adjustment programmes are prescribed, as we know, as a cure to such weaknesses."

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