Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________Clarify and share resources between the communes and the state, as wellas between the communes and their administrative units. This should takeinto account the need to grant the communes their financial autonomy (seeChapter Four on fiscal decentralisation).Demarcate the territorial borders of each commune clearly to curb intercommunalconflicts (government).Establish more stringent requirements for candidates to qualify for theposition of mayor. They must be people of integrity with good moralbackgrounds, and have at least high school leaving certificates(government, Parliament, municipal councils and voters).Sensitise and train government workers, elected local councillors and theirstaff on decentralisation issues and local governance. Disseminateinformation about legal texts on decentralisation to ensure ownership andefficient implementation of the process (government, mayors anddevelopment partners).Promote decentralised cooperation to help develop municipalities(government, mayors, elected offices, the elite, people of the diaspora andassociations).In collaboration with development partners, promote institutional capacitybuilding in communes to ensure better institutional balance between thedecentralised administrations and the deconcentrated services(government, mayors and development partners).Reduce supervisory control over the local assemblies and institute judicialcontrol in order to foster better accountability by elected local councillors(government and Parliament).In the medium and long term:Introduce significant decentralisation reforms to promote the autonomy ofdecentralised local authorities (government, Parliament, decentralisedauthorities and development partners).Involve traditional authorities in local governance and draw up a legalframework to govern their participation in the activities of thedecentralised local authorities. This should cover rights, obligations,conflict mediation, decision-making advisory services, consultancy andothers (government, Parliament, and associations of traditional kings andchiefs).Involve elected local councillors, traditional authorities, associations andother civil society representatives in the preparation of draft reforms toensure wide consensus about the laws governing these reforms(government, Parliament and all stakeholders).87