The idea behind the establishment of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was the need to redress the challenges associated with the dearth of democratic governance in the continent. Despite its enormous wealth of natural resources, the continent has remained backward in terms of developmental indexes with bourgeoning crisis of governance. The APRM was a means of ensuring best practices for sustainable economic growth, infrastructure development, political stability as well as an accelerated economic integration. This introductory chapter previews the background issues that gave rise to the establishment of the APRM. It explains the foundational ethos that informed the structure of the mechanism and its intended purpose for the greater good for the continent. The APRM is an admission of governance errors with determination to conduct self-assessment for improvements on governance issues.