Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________The fight against corruption, a canker that has permeated all dimensions ofsociety, including political, administrative, economic, social and evenfamily life.The bid to establish efficient and effective decentralised and localgovernance processes in order to foster socioeconomic development andadvancement of the citizens. This makes it important to reorganise thestate machinery, to improve representation, to take the people‟s concernsinto account, to ensure accountability right from the base, to transfer skillsand resources, and to ensure the quality of basic services rendered.Mounting insecurity, and the fight against both crime and organised crimein a transitional economy.The need to clarify the relationship between modern and traditionalgovernance in order to ensure increased participatory democracy with theactive and official involvement of the traditional authorities in theBeninese society.The gender issue, both in terms of its political dimension and how it ties inwith sustainable development. Is it possible for Benin to become anemerging economy while 52% of the country‟s population remainsmarginalised?The country‟s youth, which could be described as a virtual „time bomb‟.Can we reasonably aspire to sustainable development with a demoralisedyouth that faces poverty and unemployment and has no professionalprospects?The continuing trafficking, exploitation and abuse of children, which hasreached such alarming proportions that resistance to the eradication of thisscourge seems now to be ingrained in local custom.103. The ability of the political and democratic governance system to meet thesechallenges, in the short and medium terms, depends largely on the extent towhich the people subscribe to the vision of building an „emerging Benin‟ – afree and democratic society where everyone prospers. This chapter deals withthese issues and recommends concrete actions to be taken to overcome thenumerous challenges.104. It is without doubt in this spirit that the new president of the republic haslaunched the „consultative governance‟ concept. This is an approach based onregular consultation between all the active sectors of the nation – theauthorities of the state, the diverse forms of civil society and the private sector– through a forum for consultation.60