Speaking to the press at the African Governance Forum stakeholders' consultative workshop in Accra yesterday, Ambassador Abankwa said the fact that the report on Ghana is not public does not mean that the APRM secretariat in South Africa and that of Ghana are shrouding their operations in secrecy.

He said it is appropriate for the Heads of State of Africa to have first hand information of what is in the report and review it at the African Governance Forum in December this year before it is released to the public.

"We would have wished the Ghanaian public had at least some knowledge of what the report on Ghana contains, but it is not something that lies in our power. It is a directive from the APRM secretariat in South Africa," he said.

He said the consultative forum is essential in the process of the APRM because Ghana needs to keep fine-tuning its report to the desire of all. He said "we need to compare notes and share experiences that can advance the development of Africa."

Another member of the Council, Professor Miranda Greenstreet, said the APRM is a process, and it would need the cooperation of Ghanaians to survive. She appealed to Ghanaians to continue making suggestions despite the fact that at the moment they are not privy to the information in the report.

The Executive Secretary of the NAPRM Governing Council, Dr Francis Appiah, said citizens of countries that have not acceded to the APRM must impress on their governments to develop the political will for the programme.

He said other African countries who are yet to join the programme have a lot to learn from Ghana as the first country to accede to the APRM.

He said Ghana has set the pace such as establishing an independent body - NAPRM Governing Council - to oversee the process and contracting independent technical bodies to carry out the nationwide survey.

Dr Appiah said the purpose of the APRM would be defeated if the public were not allowed to "make informed decision as part of the process."

The forum is being held throughout the country for various institutions to seek their views on how best to improve Ghana's APRM report.