Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________government workers alike. There is, therefore, a need for more coordinatedaction by the relevant departments.177. These constraints have a real impact on local governance, and call intoquestion the efficiency of Benin‟s decentralisation system. Analysis of thefindings of a survey organised by the TRIs show that most people – citizensand elected officers alike – are not satisfied with the decentralisation system inplace, with the quality of services or the autonomy granted the communes.Only 19.57% of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the autonomy inlocal development granted to the communes, while 39.13% felt otherwise, and41.3% had no opinion on the issue. Only 13.33% of respondents said theywere satisfied with the assistance given by government to the communes.Another 35.63% said this was inadequate, and 51.11% were undecided. Lastly,43.75% of respondents believe that decentralisation has not been a success,with 35.63% disagreeing, and 20.63% being undecided. Half the respondentsbelieve that governance at the grass-roots level is a failure, 29.31% think it issuccessful and 20.69% are undecided.178. There is concern because legal texts have not been adapted to local realities.Traditional authorities, namely the chiefs, are not involved in local governancealthough they are responsible for making social regulations. In a country witha large number of rural dwellers, these authorities play an important role in thecommunes, districts and villages – which are the main areas affected bydecentralisation.179. From another standpoint, the numerous deconcentrated services (prefectoraladministrations and sectoral departmental services) compete for power withdecentralised services within the same space. This poses three types ofproblems: first, a conflict of powers and responsibilities; secondly, the not-soefficientadministrative coordination; and thirdly, the weak institutionalcapacities of these administrations caused by the distribution of inadequatehuman and material resources. These resources could be pooled using regionalcentres that have the administrative and technical capacity to ensure moreefficient management of local authorities.iii.Recommendations of the APR Panel180. To improve democratic governance, the APR Panel recommends thefollowing:1. For electoral democracy and political competition:In the short term:Implement all relevant provisions of the Charter of Political Partiesstrictly, especially those providing for sanctions on parties that do notcomply with the provisions (government and competent authorities, withthe help of civil society and Parliament).85