Benin: From Liberal to Social Democracy

By Mwalimu George Ngwane

Benin is undeniably one of Africa’s most successful stories in liberal or electoral democracy. From 1990 when she became the first African country to institute a sovereign National Conference, Benin has continued to employ all innovative and endogenous democratic strategies that distinguish her from the continent’s identity of political insolvability. The solid foundation laid by the conference in February 1990 provided the Beninese people with a nationalistic vision that focused on the power of alternatives through the ballot box rather than the principle of self-perpetration through constitutional tinkering.

As it was with most African countries, the clamor for democracy in the late 80s and early 90s was translated by the political elite and “development partners” as a movement from one party tyranny to a liberal, multiparty or electoral democracy. Yet in most cases it turned out that liberal democracy was more of elite competition than mass mobilization, more of concession than conversion, more of convenience than conviction. It was not so with Benin which now stands as Africa’s model of “glasnost” and “perestroika”.

The success story
Benin’s success in liberal democracy has been influenced by a number of factors. Firstly the existence of a vibrant press. According to a recent annual report on press freedom, Benin not only tops all African countries but stands ahead of countries like America, Japan and Italy. Press freedom has been used to effectively and constructively manage debate and contradictions in Benin’s body-politic.

Secondly, the creation of an autonomous elections management body called “Commission Electorale Nationale Autonome [CENA]. CENA is not only independent in its constitutional make-up but is managed by persons of integrity whose sole loyalty lies with the aspirations of the people and not the whims and caprices of the political class. A case in point was in March 1996 when the then incumbent President Nicephore Soglo tried in vain to arm twist the then iron lady President of CENA into rigging elections in his favour. Because of the neutrality, impartiality, transparency and stability of CENA, Benin broke the 18 year [1972-1990] Marxist rule of Ahmed Mathieu Kerekou and  further heralded a ping-pong leadership pendulum for another 15years [1991-2006] between the flamboyant World Bank diplomat Nicephore Soglo and the home grown political “chameleon” Mathieu Kerekou.  It was also because of the transparency of the 2006 Presidential polls that the loser Adrien Houngbedji sent a message of congratulation to the winner Yayi Boni.

Thirdly, the respect of the constitution. While other African countries adopted the second term mandate as a check to power routinisation, Benin added the exit age factor [Presidential candidate should not be above 70years] as an antidote to the vexed tenacity syndrome in Africa. Herein lies the maturity and statesmanship of Mathieu Kerekou who instead of violating that constitutional provision chose to act as the political umpire. Even when it came to postponing the run-off elections [another important factor] between Yayi Boni and Houngbedji, Kerekou insisted on respecting the constitution which stipulates that all run-offs must take place two weeks after the first one.

Lastly, the resolve and determination of the Beninese to collectively take their destiny into their hands through the ballot box. The Beninois people have for the last fifteen years shown that the ballot box could be both a form of resistance and an alternative framework for reconstruction. Through the ballot box, the Beninios people have rejected the stale stench of sloganeering and are perpetually in search of the potent perfume of performance.

Yayi’s enigmatic rise
The overwhelming victory of Dr. Thomas Yayi Boni as Benin’s new President marks the climax of the liberal democratic entitlement inherent in the people of Benin and the challenges needed to use this yeast of liberal democracy to bake the bread of social democracy.

And here again one is compelled to explain the enigmatic rise of a relative new comer to the limelight of power in Benin. Yayi’s personal charisma and charm appealed to the electorate. Simple, accessible, cultivated, polite and youthful, Yayi came across as a grassroots democrat and a man of principles. His economic career (he holds a Doctorate degree in Economics and was Economic Adviser to President Soglo between 1991-1996) must have influenced the electorate into believing that the era of political folklore should give way to economic development. Benin has not been spared of the nefarious effects of globalisation, privatisation, structural adjustment programs and sooner than later the bird flu economic sabotage. To quote Charles Soludo and Thandika Mkandawire,a major irony of African development history is that the theories and models employed have largely come from outside the continent.

In spite of a 5% economic growth, pauperisation, unemployment, inflation, generalised poverty and corruption have had a toll on Benin life. Like other African countries, Benin’s economy has been hemorrhaged by, to quote Frantz Fanon, ‘a little greedy caste, avid and voracious, with the mind of a huckster only too glad to accept dividends and yet incapable of inventiveness”.  The continent’s economy, apart from being externally dependent and therefore dispossessed, has been left in the hands of a comprador bourgeoisie whose typical characteristic according to Professor Issa Shivji is “conspicuous consumption at home, a little investment in unproductive activities to make quick profits, and a lot of stashing of funds in foreign bank accounts”.

As an economist Yayi has the task of inviting all Beninese to charting a homegrown long term economic program like Botswana’s 2016 Vision and Zambia’s 2030 Economic programme. Benin’s agricultural potentials especially cotton and oil palm have not been fully exploited to meet the needs of a human-centred and people-driven development. As it was with the early nationalistic economic theologies, the state must recapture and reassert its development role and provide the basic needs of the population.

The fact that Yayi Boni was elected as an Independent candidate rather than a party candidate speaks volumes of the new trend towards meritocracy in African politics. Like Ahmadou Toumani Toure who was voted president of Mali in 2000 as an Independent, like Charles Konan Banny who was chosen as Prime Minister of the Ivorian crisis as an Independent, like in Ethiopia where the ceremonial President is constitutionally expected to be non-partisan and elected from among the Independent members of the House, like in Swaziland where all the 30 members of the Senate are constitutionally required to be Independent and non-partisan, like the non-party ideology propounded by Yuweri Museveni which brought economic prosperity and political stability to Ugandans between 1986-2006, like in the former West and East Cameroon states where Independents could run for legislative elections, Yayi’s victory rubbishes the monopoly and immunity party militants enjoy even when the parties have become ideologically bankrupt or its leaders have, to quote Frantz Fanon, “become senile before they know the petulance, the fearlessness or the will to succeed of youth”.

Youth appeal also played a crucial role in Yayi’s election victory. With leaders like Jakaya Kikwete (55years old) of Tanzania, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi and Yayi Boni (54 years) of Benin, generational politics will remain a major political issue in Africa; an issue which according to Professor Jonathan Moyo (who himself ran and won as Independent in the 2005 Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe) has gone unnoticed, ignored or unanalysed by Opinion Makers. But the truth is that the old guard nationalists in Africa are increasingly finding themselves out of step with the younger population.

Lastly Yayi Boni’s sub regional professional experience played in his favour .As former Governor of the West African Development Bank, Yayi must be familiar with the strides West Africa has been making towards sub regional integration. For a country that is hemmed by other economic ambitious countries like Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo and Niger, Benin’s role as a pivotal state cannot be underestimated. Yayi has already promised to make Benin’s relationship with Nigeria as fruitful as the yester relation of France and Germany. This will mean ironing out border problems based on harassments and smuggling to avoid border closures by Nigeria. Yayi’s sub regional experience also compels him to join the progressive forces of the African Union who are painstakingly pursuing Kwame Nkrumah’s vision and Muammar ALGathafi’s agenda for a United Africa.

Conclusion
Benin has successfully braved the odds of liberal democracy; it now has the arduous task of delivering the dividends of such democracy in the form of social democracy. Yayi is definitely aware of the euphoria that greeted Presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal in 2000 and Mwai Kibaki of Kenya in 2002 and the   disillusionment now seems to follow it. Yayi is aware that the ultimate goal of any democracy is to improve the quality of lives of its people. Indeed, according to Lumumba Kasongo, democracy is both a process and a practice that involves equal economic and social opportunities for the citizenry. It is a corrective process in which a given society is born again. It is a ritual processing of new ideas and policies in a given society.  If  Dr Thomas  Yayi  Boni fails to reconcile Benin’s liberal  democracy success story with her  social democracy expectations,  the  Beninese  people would come 2011, jettison  his departure in the same manner they facilitated his arrival.

*Author of a new book “Way forward for Africa” and Executive Director of AFRICAphonie - Cameroon.

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