Malabo, Equatorial Guinea – 26 June 2014. H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Chairperson of the African Peer Review Mechanism Forum, has announced the appointment of an interim Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, to steer the affairs of the APRM Secretariat pending the recruitment of a permanent CEO.

Announcing the decision of the Participating Heads of State of the African Peer Review Forum following its 21st Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, President Sirleaf said Dr. Mayaki’s exceptional record of achievement as Head of the NEPAD Secretariat and the geographical proximity of the NEPAD Office to the APRM Secretariat in South Africa made him the ideal candidate to run the Secretariat until a suitable replacement is found.

H.E. Johnson Sirleaf expressed appreciation to the outgoing Interim CEO, Mr. Assefa Shifa, for his tireless work and valuable contribution to the APRM over the last six years.

Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Niger and the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency, will assume the role effective from 1st July 2014.

President Sirleaf said the decision of the Forum to focus solely on the administrative aspects of the Mechanism in this year’s summit was the result of administrative lapses at the Continental Secretariat that posed a threat to the integration of the APRM into the African Union System.

“The APRM’s integration process is, of course, highly administrative by nature, as it is largely a matter of conforming the Mechanism’s operational processes to AU rules and procedures. The integration is, therefore, vulnerable to existing administrative lapses at the level of the Continental Secretariat and has been long delayed”, President Sirleaf stressed.

The APRM integration into AU has already been endorsed by the Permanent Representative Council and the Executive Council of the AU, pending adoption by the General Assembly on Saturday, June 28, 2014.

President Sirleaf further commended the Republics of Benin, Ghana and Sierra Leone for the progress they have made in conducting their review processes, developing and implementing their National Programmes of Action.

She said Liberia’s own review process is still in its early stages and the country looks forward to following in the footsteps of its peers in ensuring a robust governance reform process that is meaningful and impactful in the lives of the people of Liberia.

The 21st Summit of the APR Forum of Heads of State and Participating Governments held in Malabo was graced by H.E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, H.E. Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, the Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, Focal Points of various APRM Member States and Members of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons.