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| Bishop Abraham Desta |
The African governments have been urged to put in place concrete measures to increase transparency and accountability in public institutions.
Making a presentation at the Side-Event of the African Faith Leaders Initiative during the Third International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 13-16 July 2015; on behalf of the Most Rev. Gabriel ANOKYE, Archbishop of Kumasi and 2nd Vice President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), the Apostolic Vicar of Meki; Rt. Rev. Abraham Desta said, “Promotion of the common good and especially towards the lifting of poor communities from abject poverty requires bold measures and positions from respective governments guided by the values and principles of respect for human dignity, transparency, mutual accountability, integrity of the creation, partnership and mutual consultation as well as policy coherence, democratic participation and subsidiarity which are enshrined in the Catholic Social Teachings.”
According to Bishop Desta, development means more than material wellbeing as it involved the entire human person with respect for the spiritual and cultural values of people.
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| Mr Antony Mbandi with some of the participants to the Conference |
SECAM has made a number of recommendations including setting up of a clear follow-up process in which all the key stakeholders in development agenda must have the opportunity to be actively engage and played specific roles in ensuring a proper and effective implementation of the proposed new development goals to be adopted in September 2015 during the next UN General Assembly in New York.
Also SECAM recommended and supported the proposal to have an independent body within the High Level Panel Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) so that it remains only one process which will avoid a separate process for the FFD and in the longer term will can contribute in strengthening the Policy Coherence and the Partnership for Development which is expected.
On Financing for Development and International Taxation, SECAM recommended the adoption of International legal framework as well as national ones to address the issues of tax evasion and avoidance which may need a setting up of International body at the UN level with a clear mandate to deal with global taxation issues.
The conference was attended by high-level political representatives, including Heads of State and Government, and Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, as well as all relevant institutional stakeholders, non-governmental organizations and business sector entities. AMECEA was represented by Mr Antony Mbandi, Justice and Peace and Caritas Coordinator.
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA ONLINE News