Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________the creation of a general secretariat in all the ministries to help separatepolitical from technical functions and to safeguard the reputation of theministries;the creation of one-stop shops in sensitive sectors, such as the port andcustoms, and the beginning of administrative decentralisation;the creation of customer service bureaus in the ministries and publicinstitutions; andthe creation of a single reference file for public officials.238. Some problems and failures were, however, recorded. These were: therejection of the draft bill on promotion by merit, the acute staffing problem,obstacles to capacity building and social development caused by quotarecruitment, ineffective governmental tools for assessing public officials, poordefinition of the status of local authority officials, and lazy and incompetentpublic officials who are the result of impunity and inadequate control.239. Most of the population expressed doubts about the transparency ofrecruitments, advancing reasons such as the extreme politicisation of thepublic service, corruption, favouritism and all kinds of irregularities. Theprocedures for staff promotion, training, management and assessment werealso said to lack transparency.ii.Conclusions of the CRM240. At the end of the stakeholders‟ meetings, and after studying the documents,the CRM noted several problems in the public service. These confirmed thepoints raised in the CSAR.241. The CRM found real problems in the implementation of administrativereforms. An opinion poll revealed that 70.69% of officials and localcouncillors interviewed thought the reforms were unsatisfactory. Thestakeholders thought that the results of the reforms were not very visible.Box 3.7: An efficient public serviceA prerequisite for economic and social developmentThe condition of the civil service led the government to compile an initial register ofgovernment employees in December 1986. This flushed out fictitious employees and helpedto computerise personnel management. The public service and administrative modernisationmeetings held in December 1994 kick-started Benin‟s administrative reform (2000).This reform was an expression of the need to make the public service development-orientedby taking appropriate measures. Today, an analysis of the situation in the civil service revealsthat the operations and quality of public services call for vigorous action, particularly in thearea of promotions and human resource development. Special emphasis should be put ongender balance in top positions, and on transparent and attractive career management plans.In the same vein, considerable effort should be made to depoliticise the public service, to fight102