Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER FIVE: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________will of the court to break with its lethargic past. However, for reasons notunderstood, these interim decisions were never made final.675. The CSAR indicates that for at least the first three decades of its existence, theChamber of Accounts was a complete failure in auditing public enterprises, asit dealt with only one case. This was mainly due to inadequate auditing staff,and a lack of (or incomplete) accounting by public enterprises, therebycomplicating the work of the Chamber of Accounts.676. Efficient management of public procurement. The CSAR recalls that publicprocurement is governed by Act 2004-18 of 27 August 2004. It also lists theimplementing orders of this act. These orders specify time frames for theawarding of contracts, the extent of competency in the awarding of contractsbased on the contract amount, the different stages of the procurement process,the levels of competence of each ministry, the role of public procurementunits, and (in particular) the key role of the National Public ProcurementDepartment in the award of contracts.677. Fight against corruptionThe CSAR indicates that the government has taken measures to curb thespread and incidence of corruption in state enterprises and structures. Theseinclude, but are not limited to, the enactment of a law to fight corruption, thecreation of the IGE, and the establishment of a training (and advancedtraining) programme for professionals – such as accountants, judicial policeofficers, magistrates and corporate managers. To enhance the regulatoryframework and incentive measures, the government introduced special legalarrangements determining criminal and disciplinary punishment for acts ofcorruption and related activities. The CSAR quotes Benin‟s key laws, whichinclude the Penal Code and several laws and ordinances that punish acts ofmisappropriation, corruption, extortion by public officials, as well as demandfor payment for services rendered in government offices and on the highways.ii.Conclusions of the CRM678. Corporate values, culture and governance in the country. The CSARidentified several cases of bad governance, which have caused huge losses tothe state. These include the misappropriation of public funds, forgery, and theuse of forged documents leading to the setting up of ad hoc committees orlodging of complains at the courts. However, several stakeholders interviewedby the CRM argued that very few of these cases ultimately resulted in a courtsentence.679. Role of the press and the media. Though large in number and very active,the media in Benin are not equipped to objectively carry out investigationsinto economic malpractices, fraud, and other cases of tax evasion in whichmany Beninese (from both the public and private sectors) were implicated.The level of training of most journalists is quite low, making it difficult forthem to undergo training programmes that require a minimum level of basicknowledge of economic and financial issues. They are, therefore, exposed to230