BENIN: LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL INERTIA HAMPER GOB

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COTONOU 000617

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W ACOOK
LONDON FOR PETER LORD
PARIS FOR BKANEDA
MCC FOR JBLOOM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KMCA PINR BN
SUBJECT: BENIN: LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL INERTIA HAMPER GOB
ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORT

REF: A. COTONOU 452

B. COTONOU 201

C. 07 COTONOU 888

D. 07 COTONOU 563 AND PREVIOUS

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Classified By: Ambassador Gayleatha Brown. Reasons: 1.4 (b&d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Judicial inertia and active resistance in
Benin's National Assembly temper the positive impact of
President Boni Yayi's ambitious anti-corruption and economic
governance agenda. Political gridlock continues as opposition
parties consolidate control of the National Assembly wrestled
successfully from President Boni Yayi due in large part to
defections from his FCBE political alliance (Ref A). By the
2008 municipal elections Yayi had lost the momentum garnered
from triumphs in the March 2006 presidential and March 2007
legislative elections and now battles in the courts for
control of disputed local council seats. The bureaucratic
inertia casts a pall over the legislative, judicial and
economic operations of the country, including Government of
Benin (GOB) efforts to combat corruption. The majority of
officials implicated in high-profile corruption cases by the
GOB's State Audit Office (IGE) have not been prosecuted to
the consternation of lead GOB anti-corruption officials.
President Yayi,s belated overtures to opposition party
leaders in an effort to de-block the impasse have met with
little success. The President and opposition parties are
eager for donors to hear and support their relative
positions. END SUMMARY.

//YAYI'S AGGRESSIVE ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN//


2. (U) In early 2006 at the beginning of his five-year term
of office, President Yayi took bold steps to combat
corruption. These steps included creation of the IGE,
investigations by commissions of inquiry that resulted in
referrals to the Public Prosecutor for indictment, and an
attempt to lift parliamentary immunity of suspected high
profile officials (Refs C and D.) Specifically, the IGE
investigations linked some individuals suspected of
misappropriating state funds to President Yayi. Cases
against these individuals and others are stalled in court.
In addition, President Yayi petitioned the National Assembly
to lift parliamentary immunity for two suspected criminals
among the deputies.

//TOP JURISTS BEMOAN JUDICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE INERTIA//


3. (SBU) Clotilde Nougbode Medegan, President of the Benin
High Court of Justice, explained to EmbOffs that
constitutional provisions dealing with the prosecution of
high ranking officials are problematic. She said that the
performance of the High Court of Justice is below
expectations, because its members (who are also members of
either the National Assembly or the Constitutional Court)
lack the time to devote to their judicial duties. Medegan
also bemoaned lack of swift prosecution cases related to the
low number of magistrates at the Court of Appeals in charge
of handling ordinary criminal cases as well as high-profile
cases. She regretted that the law does not set a deadline for
the investigating judges to submit the findings from their
investigations.


4. (SBU) Medegan cited the example of Alain Adihou, a
Minister under former President Kerekou's regime, who was
imprisoned for almost three years after being accused of
embezzling state funds. This case has stalled, because the
National Assembly refuses to lift the immunity of a former
minister and a deputy, suspected accomplices, to enable the
investigating judges to call them before the court. She
described the National Assembly as a &hideout8 for a number
of deputies who would have been indicted and prosecuted
before being elected if the investigating magistrates had
done their work on time and if there was no blockage at the
Assembly level. She regretted that the country's laws do not
guarantee equality of justice for all but instead sets one
standard of justice for ordinary citizens and another one for
members of the Executive and the National Assembly.


5. (SBU) On July 15, 2008, Jean-Baptiste Elias, President of
the anti-corruption watchdog, &Observatoire de lutte contre
la corruption8 (OLC),told us that the corruption cases of
two parliamentarians, Luc Da Matha Santana and Celestine
Adjanohoun, were still pending before Court. The two

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suspects had been the Deputy and Managing Directors
respectively of the Benin Electric Energy Corporation (SBEE)
before their election to the National Assembly. In June 2007
a government audit of the SBEE revealed evidence that they
improperly awarded a contract worth USD 6 million (3 billion
CFA). Elias stated that the judicial system was handling the
case appropriately, though the judicial police in charge of
the investigation have complained of a lack of adequate
resources to conduct proper investigations. He pledged that
the OLC would continue to lobby to get the immunity of the
two deputies lifted.


6. (SBU) Elias did not question President Yayi's political
will to curb corruption. He deplored, however, that Yayi,s
efforts are constrained by slow procedures in the judicial
branch and the tendency of the civil service to appoint
incompetent political appointees to key positions. However,
during a July 9 press conference, Elias bemoaned the fact
that so far the government has not taken any disciplinary
action against the civil servants that the State Inspectorate
General, IGE, suspected of embezzling public funds. He said
that some of those were even promoted to higher positions in
the civil service.


7. (U) In a related corruption case, Elias regretted that the
Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water ordered payment of
allowances to the former director of Benin Water Corporation
(SONEB),Allassane Baba Moussa, who had been fired by
President Yayi in June 2007 over mismanagement allegations.
(BEGIN NOTE: Baba Moussa had retired from the civil service
before the GOB appointed him as the Director of SONEB.
Therefore, under the fixed-term contract both parties signed,
he was not entitled to the termination payment paid to
departing civil servants. END NOTE.)


8. (SBU) Yayi,s options are limited, but he has, via the
Ministry of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights, the
authority to reinforce the staff of the investigating body of
the Court of Appeals by appointing new judges. A Ministry of
Justice source confirmed that about thirty newly recruited
magistrates were deployed this year to enhance the capacity
of the judicial system. Modifying the immunity-related
provisions in the constitution would help also to accelerate
the prosecution of allegedly corrupt legislators. However,
to attain this goal, President Yayi must submit the
constitutional amendment decision to a public referendum or
introduce it by a 4/5 majority in the Parliament.
Constitutional experts already presented to Yayi a thorough
analysis regarding specific provisions in the constitution
for amendment. The proposed amendments might well cover the
issue of parliamentarians, immunity, but the question is
whether the National Assembly's deputies would approve a
constitutional change that would expose them to prosecution
by the High Court of Justice.


9. (SBU) COMMENT: There is a widespread perception that the
parliamentary stalemate and slow judicial prosecution have
tempered President Yayi,s stance against corruption,
notwithstanding his frequent public statements condemning
corruption and reiterating commitment to combat it. In point
of fact, he is between a rock and a hard place. For example,
a recent recourse to a constitutional emergency clause
allowed him to bypass the parliament to push through urgent
legislation, a move immediately restricted by the National
Assembly (Ref A). Staffing the investigating body of the
Court of Appeals should help to improve the situation. Also,
modifying the immunity provisions in the constitution would
help accelerate the prosecution of corruption cases. The
country's constitution authorizes the President of the
Republic as well as the National Assembly to initiate laws
and to amend the constitution, but they must work together to
do so. END COMMENT.

//OPPOSITION ALLEGEDLY SEEKS KICK-BACKS FOR POLITICAL
SUPPORT//


10. (C) Political intrigue, avarice, resistance to good
governance and transparency, and power grabs at all cost
regardless of the consequences for the people of Benin,
characterize the impasse between President Yayi and his
adversaries in the opposition parties. On the surface, the
problem relates to differences over decentralization policy,
contested municipal elections, closeness of the National
Assembly President to Yayi, and poor administration. Below

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the surface, there also is resentment over the GOB's
anti-corruption efforts, including termination of illegal
kick-backs from various government operations and lack of
opposition party representatives in the GOB. In former RB
leader President Soglo,s case, he resents his former
employee Yayi,s perceived &disrespect8 since taking power
in neglecting to seek Soglo,s counsel and by including
Soglo,s son in the GOB as Sports Minister without prior
consultation. Others claim that Yayi is a dictator who wants
control over all government revenue and resources for his own
ends.


11. (C) On September 16, Yayi sent GOB Secretary General
Victor Topanou to brief the Ambassador on the government's
side of the story. He claimed that in exchange for
de-blocking the gridlock at the National Assembly three G-13
members have asked Yayi specifically for control over the
Port of Cotonou, including kickbacks from the revenue on
imported second hand cars ) a multi-million dollar
operation. The RB, he said, wants the large, lucrative
Dantokpa market in Cotonou, and MADEP wants access to revenue
from SONACOP and the Cotonou International Airport. Yayi has
refused.

//CONSEQUENCES OF THE POLITICAL IMPASSE//


12. (C) This impasse also hampers donors, ability to
function effectively. In the USG case, the National
Assembly's deadlock has meant delay in passing legislation
required for implementation of the MCA-Benin Access to
Justice Project. (Note: On September 25, the Ambassador and
MCA-Benin National Coordinator chaired closed (ministers
only) and open performance reviews) with key GOB ministers of
the first two of the five year MCA Compact. The Finance
Minister, chief GOB representative, noted the parliament's
recent extraordinary work on the relevant legislation that is
expected to be approved in the near future. The EU struggles
to support the government's effort to produce a national
electronic voter registration list (LEPI) and is floating the
idea of donor support for an outside mediator in an effort to
break the logjam.


13. (C) There are more ominous security-related consequences
to Yayi,s anti-corruption stance. For example, on a recent
overland trip to Zou and The Collines Departments to open
USG-funded health centers, the Health Minister told the
Ambassador of an armed attack on his vehicle last year on the
same road. He accused hired assassins in the pay of the
&mafia8 that has run a kick-back scheme on GOB medicines
and hospital equipment procurement who resent his
anti-corruption efforts. For this reason, the Minister's
wife and children now live in Paris. On the up side,
recently the World Bank reported a net improvement in the
corruption indicator for the country, a reflection of the
significant impact of President Yayi's anti-corruption stance
in Benin.
BROWN