Benin’s National Workshop on Debt: A Step Towards Accountability and Sustainability

PH:DR: Jean-Pierre DEGUE, Executive Secretary of Social Watch Benin, member of the Coalition-Benin.

Mr. Jean-Pierre DEGUE, Executive Secretary of Social Watch Benin, member of the Country Alliance, shares his insights on the theme of the national workshop on debt in Benin.

Theme of the National Workshop on Debt

The theme of the national workshop on debt in Benin is “Accountability as a prerequisite for sustainability and debt management.” This theme is justified for two reasons. Firstly, Benin is considered a “good student” in terms of budget transparency in 2023, ranking second after South Africa according to the report on budget transparency in Africa.

Secondly, there is an amendment that authorizes the President of the Republic to enter the financial market without the authorization of parliamentarians. “And the law obliges him to inform the Senedd within the period of three (3) months. And this is what is happening now. This situation is beginning to worry us, which means that we have returned to questions of accountability and responsibility in terms of public debts.”

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses

In this workshop, we identified the strengths and weaknesses of the legal framework. As a strength, the Government is now preparing to send the Director General of the Autonomous Debt Management Fund (ADMF) to this annual exercise which allows all stakeholders to come together, including representatives from the IMF, the World Bank, the Regional Economic Communities (ECOWAS and UEMOA), Managers of the Court of Auditors at Parliament level, Senators, lawyers, Academics, Civil Society Organizations, and media actors for the exercise of accountability.

As a weakness, we also noted that the senior debt management organization was unfortunately unable to carry out any audit of the debt in Benin.

A Plea for Support

The Executive Secretary’s plea to AFRODAD (which makes it possible to organize this annual workshop) is to have the necessary means to strengthen these operators in the accountability role they have. Civil society seems to be at the forefront of the information related to the public debt and even the dysfunctions that characterize the legislative establishment.

It will also develop a citizen coalition on the issue of debt management. “In any case, at a national level, something is starting to move because for a long time, the issue of debt was not noticed and was not of interest to any citizen.” Although they are the ones most affected by paying off debt through taxes.