Having been living out of Benin for almost a decade, I had resorted to the idea that the mediocrity which seems to be the prime value of our country would never allow our people to get rid of their misery. Consequently, and certainly by selfishness, I never thought of returning definitely home. But on April 6, 2006, I believed that a new departure was on and I convinced myself for the first time in one decade that time had come for a number of our country men living abroad like myself to return home and contribute with their expertise to the rebuilding of our country. Unfortunately, fifteen months after this new departure, I must acknowledge that this was more of an emotional idea. I admit that being not in the country; I cannot say with exactness if the living conditions had changed and if the country really started a new departure. Nevertheless, a number of recent facts largely relayed by Benin's media, including the official web site of the ``Changement'' (beninhuzu), indicate that Benin's ``Changement'' not only looks like a slogan, but also is simply heading towards a populism. If nothing is done to rectify this trend, I am afraid that we might be likely to find ourselves in 2011 with the same questions as in 2006 just with different actors. Below, I wish to analyze some recent facts which show that our government (at best) made some errors of judgment that if not corrected could turn out to be a fatal drift to the ongoing ``Changement''.
My first point relates to the National Military Service's law which was recently voted by our National Assembly. It is my strong conviction that it is one of the worst laws ever voted in Benin. Historical facts in our country should have guided the authors of the law and the Government which supported it to see that the law was inappropriate. The noble idea to give a civic commitment to the Beninese should begin, in my opinion, at a pedagogical level with the reintroduction in school of lessons of Good citizenship or with any other program capable to equip the future citizens with the respect of public property, of patriotism and especially a high moral value. To try to inject 7 billion francs in a military service which brings us back to the time of the PRPB is in my opinion a waste of the meagre public resource available in Benin. If the Government is able in the middle of the fiscal year to mobilize 7 billion for this so-called military service, I do not understand why it cannot satisfy the claims of the workers in general, and the teachers in particular, in order to avoid constant stoppages which as a matter of consequence result in poor standard of teaching of our pupils and students. Moreover, the speed with which the law was conceived and voted shows the lack of serious reflexions taking in account the unhappy experiment of the “Bachelier en Mission” which the late PRPB regime gave up, and which is often quoted as being one of the reasons of the drawdown of our educational system. In fact, there are more urgent problems in Benin which deserve to be solved with immediately. For example, the Beninese will be called to the ballot boxes by the end of the current year for local elections. Does the State have the financial means to organize reliable and fair elections? The question deserves to be put due to the fact that it is the same government which reduced, for strict budgetary policy reason -- and could no be blamed for this -- the budget of the CENA 2007. Therefore, it is difficult to understand how this same government engages in such an expensive, adventurous and useless project as the so-called national military service act. I could continue to quote examples of priorities which did not receive the same promptness from the government. For instance, it seems to me that there is a lack of political good-will and concrete initiatives in the fight against AIDS. I am surprised, that with its leaning for brilliant deeds, the President of the Republic and his closest collaborators as well as the High Authorities of our country, have not yet, and this for the first time in Benin, publicly subjected to the AIDS test to heighten public awareness of the danger of demographical extinction which we are facing. If the State can release 7 billion for the military service, this means that it is then able, and without awaiting the generous international donors, to launch a national campaign of detecting AIDS, a first stage in the fight against the progression of this disease. For lack of space in this tribune I will stop on this single example of useful investment, though there are many others, which are nonetheless important.
My second point is concerned with the recent jolts in the sector of telecommunications in our country. Without seeking to go to the core of the ongoing dispute between the Government and some approved GSM operators because of my lack of knowledge in this field, I think that my right of citizen added to sound judgement ability which I share with the majority of human being, allow me to say that the government and the Telecom regulation Authority have showed an extraordinary thoughtlessness. Anyone could have considered and anticipated the consequences of AREEBA and MOOV networks' suspension. With roughly a million users, one does not need to be highly educated to foresee that the decision of the Authority would involve, among other things, unemployment for hundreds of agents, and a loss of earnings even an unquestionable bankruptcy for thousands of small shopkeepers living directly or indirectly on the activities of the suspended operators. Worse, the remainder of the network is unable to satisfy the communication needs of the country. Let me also say, having been living abroad for the last decade, it has been paradoxically since the arrival in power of the new political team, and especially since last December that it became impossible to me to easily join correspondents in Benin by telephone. Much was already said about the ridiculous reasons which led the Authority of regulation to set the price of the license at 30 billion. But surprisingly enough, the economists of the Government did not find nor avoid this erroneous approach. Worse, only Libercom controlled mostly by the State, is said to have cleared payment of the 30 billion licence costs. The recent declarations of Minister Adaja following the questions of Members of Parliament seem to indicate that it is a simple accounting trick that made it possible to Libercom to be “up to date”. Déjà-vu could one say: Sonacop and Fagbohoun episode immediately comes at everyone’s mind. The fury of the griots and other governmental propagandists against AREEBA, MTN and MOOV, tending to make the people believe that these companies cheated Benin, reminded us a sad period of our history which led to pure and simple nationalization of certain multinational companies. It is rather surprising that a government which, one the one hand, unceasingly calls upon the foreign investors to come and settle in Benin, decides on the other hand to start a campaign against these same investors. The Head of the State, for the sake of his ambition to make Benin an emerging nation, must correct this situation as soon as possible; he should reassure the international investors who are concerned with the safety of their investments. Because, let's make no mistake on this point, it is not the organization in due course of free elections which determines the security status of foreign investments in a country, but rather the code of investments, the business rules and their application and other bodies of regulation of various sectors of the economy.
The success of the Head of the State in his ambition to make Benin an emerging country depends in part on the active participation of the Civil Society and the political opposition to the national debate. However, we are forced to note that since April 2006, these components of our society have disappeared, having in many cases pledged allegiance to the new government. Had President Kérékou ever declared to have spent 106 billion for his official trips abroad in a year that billboards and other leaflets would have emerged in Cotonou to protest against the underhand dealings? And yet, it is exactly what President Boni Yayi said during the interview he granted to the media on the occasion of the celebration of the first anniversary of his accession to power. No debate on the necessity of this expenditure and on the real outcome of these trips for the country has been launched. I know that the propagandists of the regime will remind us of meetings and evoke figures of gifts and other loans in benefit of Benin, but only the naive and uninformed people would believe declarations of this new kind of MISON or MION. For the record, I remind the due fury of President Soglo towards a journalist of ORTB, who, back from of an international trip with the Head of the State, asked him at the Cotonou's airport: “Mr. the President, How much have you brought back to Benin”! The Propagandist of the ``changement'' should seek to know what has become of this poor journalist!
The truth here is that the Beninese diplomacy during these last 15 months, despite the multiple trips of the Head of the State, is still in an uncommon lethargy. I live in a part of the world where the diplomatic activity is very intense while Benin misses completely great debates on Africa and the World. For example, Benin was absent on the debate on the choice by the American army of the country which would be home to AFRICOM (American military command for Africa); Mrs. Bush visited two countries of West Africa without a stop in Benin; our relations with Canada are idling since the imprisonment of a Canadian citizen in Benin and the press campaign of this latter against our country on his return to Canada. And yet, as much as I know, nothing has changed on these various questions. I hope that the new Foreign Minister will be able to give a new dynamism to our diplomacy.
Lastly, the credibility of President Boni Yayi is clearly at stake, because since April 2006, the results of the audits which he ordered are yet to be published. Of course, a list of unknown citizen has been given to feed people’s curiosity, but no one is really fooled: the majority of these men indulge in some non-orthodox accounting practices, but never cheated the State. The OBSS' billion affair has not evolved, at least as much as we know. And so is the Sonacop affair for which Mr Fagbohoun so far remains in preventive detention. In the same way, in the sale of Benin Diplomatic Mission's estate in New York City, only a simple financial director was jailed. No one can think of him as the sole responsible in this economic crime. If the reign of Kérékou these last 10 years has been marked in Benin by an unprecedented corruption, it is ironic that a former Minister of Finance of him was tapped by the President to not only be on the FCBE's list in the parliamentary elections, but also to be the chairman of the Finance Commission of the Parliament. These are just a few of the very many problems which cast doubt on the proclaimed will of the Head of the State to fight against the corruption.
In addition, it is important that the President does not become the man of a clan or a group if he really wishes to help Benin get rid of its poverty. The zeal of some of his collaborators in their fury against whoever expresses an opinion contrary to that of the Government is the beginning of an enrolment of the people, and Benin can not afford such a backward stepping. It is the responsibility of the Head of the State to protect the free expression of all the citizens. At this stage of his mandate, being obsessed by 2011 election is the surest way not to carry out any fundamental project for the sake of the country. Contrary to what he said at an inaugural prayer meeting organized by the evangelic churches in honour of his entry in power as a President, when he viewed himself as the Solomon of Benin, in reference to the achievements of this latter for Israel, I would suggest that the President seeks to rather be the David of Benin. Indeed, David is the one who established peace and foundation without which King Solomon would not have realized anything. However, it is noteworthy that in spite of the quasi-divine dimension of David and Solomon, who were chosen by God to lead His People, the Bible teaches us that they were not beyond mistake!
To conclude, I will say that “the Changement” which is on everyone’s lips since a little more than a year resembles more and more to a slogan, like the well known “For the revolution…” which has marked my generation. If this turned out to be the case, it would then be a tragic thing for Benin. President Boni Yayi, due to the commitments he freely proclaimed in front of the whole world on April 2006 has the duty to pause and to reflect on his action during these last 15 months, and make the necessary adjustments needed to truly make Benin an emerging nation.
©2007. Kasso A. Okoudjou. ([email protected]). (Kasso A. Okoudjou, Ph.D., Silver Spring, Maryland, the USA)
Traduction binason avekes, ©2007 Babilown
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2007, © Bienvenu sur Babilown
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