Home    About SIA   Programmes   SIA News   Publications    Lead Agencies

Governance

1.1 Historical and cultural foundations

1.2 Political structure

1.3 Socio-economic situation

2.1 Problems involved in transparency and accountability

2.2 The public Administration

2.3 The judicial system

2.4 Local governance and decentralization

2.5. Human rights and the democratic system

3.0 The National Good Governance Programme as the framework for the coherence of the principles of transparency and accountability

3.1 The global objectives of the National Good Governance Programme

3.2 Components of the Programme

Senegal is bounded by Mauritania on the north and north-east, Mali on the south-east, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau on the south and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. At its centre, the Gambia constitutes an enclave with an area of 10,300 km². The population of Senegal was estimated in 1997 to be 8.5 million inhabitants on an area of 196,722 km².

Situated at the westernmost point of the African continent, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, Senegal came into contact very early with several civilizations, which enabled it through the centuries to build up a rich cultural heritage. Senegalese society is, in fact, rich by reason of its ethnic, religious and cultural differences. Three factors must be taken into consideration in its process of unification: a certain amount of "Wolofization" of its society, Islamization and the influence of the West through the powerful vectors constituted by schools, the media, the Administration and, to a lesser extent, the Church. However, none of these factors has erased the cultural differences between the ethnic groups.

Senegalese Islam, the dominant religion, is based essentially on the concept of brotherhood. It is characterized by the allegiance of separate populations to religious leaders. This has led to the growth of powerful lobbies. Thus, even in the Administration, which is a symbol of national unity and a guarantor of the principle of equality before the public authorities, some traditional solidarities have developed.

Senegal, as the base of colonial penetration, acquired during the colonial era an intellectual elite trained in Western schools. Since the capital of French West Africa was in Senegal, the country has gained some experience in the functioning of republican institutions. The relative stability of its society was accompanied by a continuing process of destructuring and restructuring between two types of area: on the one hand, traditional local farming areas, which constitute coherent organizations in the economic, demographic, social and institutional spheres, and, on the other hand, a new open area, undifferentiated and homogeneous, with market mechanisms derived from a different socio-economic and cultural system.

Senegal has often based the choice of its leaders on a democratic process. Major advances remain to be made on the path towards the construction of a democratic society based on the preservation of State authority and the strengthening of lay political institutions. The Republic has a presidential régime, in which a President elected by direct universal suffrage defines the national policy implemented by the Government.

Since 1991 the Government has been headed by a Prime Minister appointed by the President of the Republic, who is the Chief of the Executive Branch. Monitoring of the actions of the Executive is provided by a National Assembly elected by direct universal suffrage. The judicial power is organized around the following major institutions: the Constitutional Court (which announces the results of legislative and presidential elections), the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and the Courts and Tribunals. The country also has an advisory institution, the Economic and Social Council.

Lastly, there is a rich and varied political landscape, made up of 26 parties, 11 of which have been represented in Senegal's Parliament since 1998. It should be pointed out that there is a civil society whose objective is to participate in development by trying to sensitize popular opinion on public affairs. It includes the trade unions, the National Councils of Youth and Women, consumer-protection associations, village groups, NGOs and religious organizations. The existence of a dynamic and independent private press developing side by side with the State media should also be mentioned.

Differences in development between a high rate of population growth and an economic growth rate which was low until 1994 were largely to blame for the exacerbation of major imbalances and for the low rate of income growth.

However, the quality of the macro-economic framework and the intensity of the reforms following the devaluation of the CFA franc made it possible to reach growth rates of the order of 5%, to improve public finances, to a keep inflation satisfactorily under control and to achieve a marked improvement in our external position. Nevertheless, obstacles of an institutional, juridical, economic, financial and social nature continue to make the country's development fragile.

The rechanneling of public investment to the quaternary sector made it possible to increase the rate of school attendance to 59.7% in 1996/97 from 54.4% in 1993/94 and to increase the number of those learning to read in the literacy campaign. This option has also made it possible to improve indicators in the health sphere, so that some of them now come close to WHO standards.

The Ninth Plan of Orientation for Economic and Social Development (1996-2001) defines, through ten strategic orientations, the conditions for the attainment of competitiveness and human development. Such a perspective requires the construction of a "strategist" State. It is difficult, however, to attain the objective of competitiveness and human development in the absence of systematic actions in the area of transparency and accountability, key principles of good governance.

Transparency and accountability, key principles of good governance, are applicable both to the use of the principles of openness and accountability in the legitimate exercise of governmental authority and to the Government's ability to supervise and conduct the country's affairs in the interest of all its populations and, at the same time, to make State services more easily accessible to the private sector and to the general public.

The implementation of these principles presupposes the existence of administrative structures based on norms of operation and procedures which are flexible and transparent, a proper assignment of accountability, motivation and equal availability of all Administration staff to the public and to the private sector; it also presupposes the ability of the public and the private sector to gain unrestricted access to such services.

While good governance is also measured by the ability to respond without restriction to the expectations of citizens in general and of workers in the productive sector in particular, State personnel must be held accountable whenever there is any violation of the standards of operation of the public Administration's services.

This accountability calls into question the coherence of the missions and objectives assigned to the various State services, as well as the degree of accountability borne by its agents. It also calls into question the behaviour of its agents and their ability to abide by the standard of operation of a public service. Violation of the standards of operation of public service is often attributable to the burden of the culture and tradition on the mentality of the persons concerned.

During this period, when Senegal is undertaking to pursue economic, political and social reforms in order to participate more effectively in globalization, good governance through the establishment of a strategist State is viewed as a priority for accelerating growth and ensuring lasting human development.

An analysis of good governance in the light of the principles of transparency and accountability enables us to review the performances of the services of the public Administration, those of democracy and a business environment and, lastly, the problems which limit the effectiveness of the public Administration; for this reason, it is important to analyze this effectiveness through the implementation of the principle of transparency and accountability just as much in institutional organization, the capacities and supervisory mechanisms of the public Administration and the judicial system, as in the evolution of the policy of decentralization and the supervisory mechanisms of decentralized entities and those of the strengths and weaknesses of the democratic system.

A study of the Administration’s productivity which was conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in November 1997 reports the findings of the clients of public services. It lists, in order of importance: a poor capacity for response and reaction; a cumbersome administration with lengthy procedures; a very high rate of absenteeism among civil servants, leading very often to situations in which there is nobody on duty to guide the clients; a rigid administration incapable of adapting to changes and anticipating future development; a lack of interest on the part of civil servants in their work, which acts as a break on their spirit of initiative. Side by side with these elements, which denote certain culture existing in the Administration, it is important to study the functioning of the Administration through its institutional organization, its management capacity and its mechanism for control and audit.

Administrative structures are often compartmentalized. The result is an inadequate circulation of information. Compartmentalization between administrative structures makes it difficult to circulate information between the Administration and its clients. Such old habits have led inter alia to an inadequacy of procedures for keeping pace with the universal need for access to information and sometimes to a near-breakdown of client relations.

Furthermore, institutional instability and the frequent transfer of Administration services from one place to another tend to weaken them by reason of the loss of documents and the time required to make the services operational again. Added to this is the fact that Administrative information is often unnecessarily kept confidential.

The prerogatives and missions of various offices are not respected. Moreover, some Administration structures continue to be governed by regulations and procedures which date from the time of independence. There is little coherence between the structures and the objectives. There is a proliferation of structures which often pursue the same goals, without any functional or operational relationships, and this leads to duplication of work and overlapping (a multiplicity of management entities and the creation of small units for the execution of projects). This situation creates confusion about the roles and the different powers and responsibilities of the different participants in the Administration's work. It makes it impossible to pursue under conditions of transparency the objectives assigned to the services working in the same sector.

The lack of respect for procedures is greatly aggravated when individuals realize that they can use this kind of recourse in order to bargain away any punishment and to evade the application of the established standards. So long as the cost of a sanction expressing disapproval is less than the cost of the deliberate or unconscious violation of standards, an individual may find it more rational to show his preference for a totally personal line of conduct.

Refusal to conform to the standards of operation of the Administration arises from the protection expected from formal or informal networks (neighborhood associations, village associations, political or religious groupings). These are seats of power and sometimes of counter-power, especially when they are participants in civil society. They are viewed as refuge structures which strengthen the individual's bargaining power.

These findings show that the quality of the public service has not lived up to clients' expectations (early closings of service windows, protracted response times, lack of anyone to speak to a client, complexity of the rules). In fact, the Administration does not possess the reflex of regarding the users of its services as clients and partners who deserve attention and care. The citizen is helpless against the all-powerful civil servant who exhibits little willingness to provide the expected service as a matter of right. The need for channels of appeal has led to the establishment of structures such as the Office of the Mediator. The growing number of files handled by that institution reflects the magnitude of this phenomenon.

In the light of the reforms of the programme of structural adjustment, State interventionism has been accompanied by a proliferation in procedures, in the granting of licenses, authorizations or miscellaneous concessions, rigid procedures for the control of business through numerous regulations and bureaucratic mechanisms.

The reforms of the Administration in a number of areas, inter alia the disengagement of the State, deconcentration and other administrative reforms, have concentrated almost exclusively on the budgetary aspect (reducing the number of staff) and not on the quality of service. Yet the establishment of an effective and properly performing public service which provides quality services is a prerequisite for good governance.

The management of the economy is based on the national planning system, whose various instruments are aimed at implementing development strategies. At a more global level, the evaluation of the planning system has made it possible to detect institutional problems which militate not so much in favour of greater transparency as in favour of fostering greater accountability among the staff of the Ministries responsible for devising and pursuing development policies and programmes and among those entrusted with regional planning. While the national plan for economic and social development constitutes a State law, this is not true for the guidance tools devised at the regional and local levels.

The problems of implementing regional plans result from the status of Senegal’s regions, which have no power to finance projects, the weakness of the financial resources available to local communities, the procedures for the allocation of State investment resources and the poor capacity for formulating regional and local policies. Moreover, the lack of coordination among intervention structures on a regional scale makes it impossible to define a framework of global coherence among the various instruments, which are: the Regional Plan for Integrated Development (Plan régional de développement intégré -- PRDI); the Plan for Communal Investment (Plan d'investissement communal -- PIC) and the Local Development Plan (Plan local de développement -- PLD).

Furthermore, the quality of service in the enterprises of the para-public sector is hardly better, despite a private management method. This is the result of a monopolistic position which does not participate in the improvement of efficiency and of respect for the client and which furthermore possesses immunity from execution of writs. The repeated instances of State intervention in financial management cannot be reconciled with the rules of prudence and financial orthodoxy necessary for the establishment of a climate favourable to business.

The business climate is equally revealing about the Government’s ability to manage the national economy. In this connection, many foreign inventors and a number of local businessmen continue to hold the perception, in spite of all recent efforts, that the situation is hostile to private initiative. This perception is fed by three factors: (i) skepticism concerning the Government's commitment to the adoption of liberalizing measures; (ii) lack of transparency in decision-making, combined with a general feeling that the playing field is not level; and (iii) administrative controls which are considered excessive and which cause delays.

More explicitly, the reforms have been superficial and partial for the private sector, inasmuch as:

the legal instruments (laws, decrees, orders) which establish the reforms are sometimes open to possible interpretations that distort the original intentions;

impartiality and transparency are not always ensured in the implementation of economic policies; tax laws and social legislation are strongly biased to the advantage of the producers of the unstructured sector and of Senegalese firms.

This perception explains the deterioration of relations between the Administration and the private sector during the past few years. On the one hand, the private sector deplores the existence of many taxes, the burdensome customs regulations, the lengthy procedures for obtaining administrative documents, inadequate regulation of labour legislation and the weaknesses and uncertainties of the legal and judicial system. In the Administration’s view, on the other hand, the Senegalese private sector was not sufficiently ready to go along with the State in its process of disengagement, and the economic operators did not show sufficient respect for the existing regulations, especially with regard to taxation.

On the basis of studies conducted by the private sector, it can be stated that in so far as the legal environment regarding business is concerned:

laws and regulations governing economic activity have a number of inadequacies, inter alia because of the lack of prior harmonization with business leaders;

the immunity from the execution of wreits which was guaranteed to the State, to enterprises of the para-public sector and to local communities enables them to disregard their contractual obligations without being exposed to the execution of writs, while they enjoy all the benefits of private law;

the problem of the legal and judicial security of private investments arises in connection with the obsolescence of the legal documents (the Commercial Code dating from 1807, the law on limited-liability companies dating from 1925), the courts' shortage of both material and human resources and the lack of legal staff, inter alia in the area of taxation and the law pertaining to businesses in difficulty. Added to this there are the lack of specialized competence in economic disputes on the part of magistrates and courts and the insecurity of credit in cases of impending liquidation;

recourse to arbitration in relations between private persons, on the one hand, and between private persons and the State, on the other hand, is not systematic.

Lastly, the continued deterioration of the public service is preventing the implementation of policies and programmes, a fact reflected in the low rate of credit absorption. This is due to the lack of high-quality human resources, inter alia in the technical ministries which play an essential role in investment expenditures. The non-existence of career plans, the systematic non-application of positive or negative sanctions and the lack of anticipatory management of human resources deprive workers of motivation and limit their effectiveness. The certainty of a guaranteed income, the security of employment and the lack of an evaluation system based on merit do not provide any incentive for constant improvement of performance.

The Administration has not adopted a culture of auditing and supervision. The local administrative culture regards supervision as a negative sanction. The lack of supervision is visible both in the management of human resources and in the procurement procedures.

The system of evaluation of staff members is not applied effectively, and the supervision of staff is not regular. The career of a staff member is not always directly subject to evaluation by his superior. The effectiveness of supervisory procedures is diminished by the numerous appeals to which a staff member may resort.

As regards procurement, the slowness of procedures discourages some initiatives and makes it impossible to filter out frauds. The delay in voting the regulation law by the National Assembly does not facilitate the preparation of balance sheets of the financial implementation of the budgets of ministerial departments and other institutions (the National Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Office of the President, etc.).

At the time of independence, our country had a relatively concentrated judicial organization, with the institution of a single-jurisdiction system built around a Supreme Court and other courts and tribunals. At present the judicial system is organized around the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and a number of courts and tribunals. The Constitution, which is the foundation of this organization, contains three principles which relate to the judicial system: the independence of the magistrates of the courts and tribunals, the inviolability of human rights and the absolute nature of the right to defence.

The structure of the judicial organization is pyramidal. At the top, in addition to the Constitutional Council, which is competent in constitutional matters and in conflicts of competence between the other two highest-level jurisdictions, we find the Conseil d’État and Court of Cassation. The Constitutional Council announces the results of legislative and presidential elections, while the Council of State has competence for rural and municipal elections and for the regularity of public accounts. It examines appeals claiming abuse of power on the part of the State and the local communities; consequently it judges elected officials in respect of their administrative actions. These are followed by the Court of Appeals of Dakar, the Regional Tribunals, the departmental jurisdictions and the Labour Tribunals. In addition to these, there are exceptional courts, such as the Court for the Elimination of Illicit Enrichment, which is no longer in operation, and the Court of Budgetary Discipline, which is designed to combat corruption and embezzlement.

Unduly cumbersome judicial procedures, outmoded legislation and inadequate human resources, inter alia among magistrates, cause excessive delay in the examination of files, prevent transparency in the business world and make it impossible for persons going to trial to exercise fully their civil accountability.

Despite some projects of institutional support by the Justice Department, some problems persist, among them the delays in functioning of justice. Besides the shortage of staff, which is expected to be remedied by the programmed recruitment of 100 magistrates, this situation can be explained by:

The scattering of jurisdictions throughout the city of Dakar pending the establishment of the new court building;

the inadequacy of material resources;

the inadequacy of appeals jurisdiction, with only one Court of Appeals, which is already greatly overcrowded;

the number of protracted disputes due to the procedure of deferment of execution, which causes overcrowding of the Court of Cassation;

the outmoded nature of the legal instruments and statutes, causing a gap between social practices and economic evolution.

After independence, the policy of decentralization was progressively strengthened with several reforms, the most noteworthy of which are those of 1972, 1990 and 1996. Previously, Act 66-64 containing the Code of the Communal Administration harmonized the status of all communes of Senegal. All of these developments should not blind the observer to the Jacobinic reflex of the Administration, whose staff resist any transfer of their powers.

Until 1972, Senegal was characterized by two types of territorial Administration: the residents of towns freely administered themselves through their Municipal Councils, while rural residents were administered by a Government official. This was the reason for the 1972 reform of territorial and local administration, aimed at ending this dichotomy and enabling all citizens to enjoy equal status, with the creation of local communities in the rural area, namely, the rural communities.

After a few years of application of the territorial and local administration reform, the limitation of the powers of local elected officials which resulted from the unduly great powers granted to appointed officials (the Sub-Prefect in rural areas and the Municipal Administrator in communes which were regional capitals) was received with great resentment and strongly condemned. As a result, the 1990 reform was adopted; this inter alia strengthens the powers of local elected officials by transferring the management tasks of the Sub-Prefect to the President of the Rural Council and by eliminating the special status previously granted to communes which were regional capitals and returning them to ordinary law.

To complete the architecture of decentralization, it was necessary to fill the existing gap between the strong and remote central State and the basic communities which were close to the population but powerless, by transforming the region into an intermediate-level local community. The dominant feature of the 1996 reform was the change in status of the region and the transfer of nine areas of competence (planning, management of the territory, State-owned lands, urban development, health, education, environment, youth and sports, and culture). In this connection, the principle of the free administration of local communities and the principle of not permitting one local community to exercise guardianship over another were reaffirmed. Prior monitoring of the actions of local communities is no longer the rule but the exception. Article 336 of the new code governing local communities cites the areas of exception which require prior approval by the representative of the State.

It is important to note that the lack of training and the high rate of illiteracy among local elected officials contrast with the extent of their power and accountability.

While regionalization permits a better distribution of the decision-making centres, a good description of the tasks would make possible a clear delimitation of areas of competence between the central level and the local level and between the State and the community. Monitoring of equality and the tasks of sovereignty would rest with the State, while the regions would be competent in matters of planning and development. If the State intends to finance regions in such a way as to compensate for inequalities, there is a possibility that the State could continue to be the place for coordination and redistribution of powers, with a risk of reducing the responsibilities of local powers and not promoting the monitoring, and hence the transparency, of the rulings rendered by the State.

2.5.1 Institutions and mechanisms

The principle of separation of powers is enshrined in the Constitution. The legislative power has the mission of exercising effective supervision over the Government by adopting or rejecting legislative bills, by putting questions orally or in writing to the members of the Government and by establishing commissions of inquiry. The deputies may also vote a motion of censure against the Government.

In Senegal’s democratic life, there have been several elections contested by different parties. But since 1988, the day after election was always full of disputes which caused social disturbances. A consensual electoral code was adopted in 1991, putting an end to the practice of electoral boycotts. Under the terms of the electoral law now in force, electoral competition is open to independent candidatures for the legislative and presidential offices.

The question of the desirability of an independent structure entrusted with the organization of elections has given rise to intense debate on the part of political parties and civil society. A presidential decree of 1997 formalized the framework of this debate, which ended in the creation of the National Office for Election Observation (Observatoire national des élections -- ONEL) to ensure the honesty and transparency of elections. A General Directorate of Elections (Direction générale des élections) was created in the Ministry of the Interior to organize the elections.

The suitability of development policies must be decided through additional consultations with the people. Thus, periodic consultations are arranged between the Government and its social partners (employers, trade unions, representatives of the rural population, etc.).

One of the weaknesses of the normal operation of the democratic process lies in the low level of education of the population, the low rate of participation in elections (less than 50% participated in the legislative elections of 1998), the school attendance rate of 59.7% and the high rate of illiteracy (72%). Ignorance of the laws and regulations and the low capacity for dialogue with the Administration also constitute obstacles to the emergence of a public opinion that is aware of what is at stake in society.

The primacy of law is being increasingly perceived as a prerequisite for the democratic process. This perception must be shared by Senegalese society in its entirety in order to strengthen respect for human dignity. A Court on Illicit Enrichment has been established since 1981. Legal provisions have given citizens greater protection against torture and maltreatment. In addition, NGOs that contribute to the defence of human rights have been granted a special status, and a National Commission of Human Rights (Comité national des droits de l'homme et de la personne humaine) has been created. December 10, World Human Rights Day, is celebrated in Senegal.

Freedom of association and freedom of the press are recognized in Senegal. The press includes a diversity of institutions and plays an essential role in the consolidation of democracy. Journalists exercise their profession freely, even though the law requires a journalist in certain cases to reveal his sources in the event of defamation.

The participatory approach is being developed in the economic, political and social fields. However, with increasing experience in coexistence, some political parties are taking it upon themselves to disturb the transparency of the political process. Voters are often given no protection by the political process in Senegal, where some parties which have been elected to defend an opposition programme may find themselves overnight in the Government. In principle, a vote gives an indication of the citizens' willingness to approve the programme defended by a party or a coalition of parties. But the gap between the speeches and the practice of some parties confuses the conditions of the democratic process in a country in which disputes arise after each election. While the work of ONEL is welcomed by all after the recent elections of May 1998, the limits imposed on ONEL's powers do not militate for the elimination of conflicts in the course of the various elections. This is so because the organization of elections by the Administration raises the problem of persuading everyone to accept their transparency.

The Government's strategy after the evaluation of the CFA franc has been to make the private sector the motive power of growth. The reforms undertaken within this framework have related inter alia to the elimination of price controls, the abolition of non-tariff barriers and the elimination of monopoly privileges. They have helped to improve the environment for private-sector activity. Consultation arrangements have been established for economic strategies and for projects to support the private sector with a view to promoting genuine partnership.

Since January 1994 a climate of transparency has characterized most public acts, as demonstrated by the actions presented below.

By reason of the growing demand for transparency, for pluralism in the media and for freedom of expression in the political, economic and social spheres, a High Council on Audio-Visual Communication (Haut Conseil de l'audiovisuel -- HCA), an independent agency, has been created to monitor objectivity and pluralism in information and free and healthy competition between audio-visual media.

The management of elections has also been improved with the creation of an independent agency, ONEL, entrusted with monitoring and supervising in the elections with a view to ensuring transparency. In response to a request from ONEL, the electoral list has been accessible since 30 April 1998 to anyone connected to the Internet.

On the occasion of the legislative elections of May 1998, these two agencies did much to help establish an atmosphere of calm and an electoral process whose results will be the least disputed in all of Senegal's recent political history.

In the legal sphere, the State has signed the treaty of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (Organisation pour l'harmonisation du droit des affaires en Afrique -- OHADA). Three uniform laws which entered into force on 1 January 1998 make it possible to guarantee legal and judicial security on a subregional scale.

The Assembly also voted in March 1998 in favour of the creation of a structure for the monitoring of magistrates, namely, the Office of the Inspector General for Magistracy Services (Inspection générale des services de la magistrature), an independent agency whose members are appointed by the Higher Council of the Magistracy (Conseil supérieur de la magistrature). A law creating the Court of Financial Discipline (Cour de discipline financière), replacing the Court of Budgetary Discipline (Cour de discipline budgétaire), has been enacted. This court, whose mission is to prosecute and punish any mismanagement of public funds in the broad sense and which can take action against any person holding a public office, any credit administrator or any official empowered to authorize public expenditure is also covered by the dynamics of accountability.

The State’s Ministry of Modernization has undertaken a reform of the system for the promotion of civil servants, including inquiries on the quality of the public services prior to consultation with the Administration.

In order to improve the operation of the justice system, major reforms already initiated will be intensified and completed. In 1993, the power of the Chief Bailiff (Greffier en chef) to manage funds was terminated, and the Autonomous Fund for the Pecuniary Settlements of Attorneys (Caisse autonome des règlements pécuniaires des avocats -- CARPA) was established. A credit of 200 million CFA francs managed by the Order of Attorneys (Ordre des avocats) was established for judicial assistance.

The support project to the reform of the judicial system has helped to partially meet the need for making the best use of human resources in the courts and tribunals and to improve working conditions by means of material and logistical support. The project is also intended to ensure access to the law for persons who are to go to trial. This would lay the foundations for increased transparency in the judicial system.

As of 5 May 1998, a regional development agency (agence régionale de développment -- ARD), responsible for stimulating regional and local development, has been established for each region. It will be in charge of the preparation of the Regional Plan of Integrated Development (Plan régional de développment intégré -- PRDI), plans for communal investments (plans d'investissements communaux -- PIC) and local development plans (plans de développment locaux -- PLD). The ARD will have the power to formulate and manage projects.

The National Good Governance Programme will be part of the dynamics of these transparency actions.

What is involved here is essentially a contribution to effectiveness and transparency in economic and social management and the strengthening of a rule of law in a democratic society. The Programme should help to confirm in the mind of each citizen the conviction that access to power and to resources is being arranged in an equitable and transparent manner. It should also contribute to the establishment of peace and stability and promote an environment favourable to production and transparent practices of management in the public and private sectors. The establishment of effective and transparent institutions is essential to the regulation and stabilization of the economic process, to decision-making and to the safeguarding of political and economic stability. The necessary legitimacy can be obtained only on the basis of accepted and adopted democratic mechanisms. What is needed, therefore, is to institute a culture of citizen accountability, information, transparency and the rule of law and social justice which benefits everyone.

Thus, the Programme should be aimed at facilitating:

the strengthening and streamling of the central Administration by a thorough reform of the civil service with a view to making it perform better. The areas of intervention will relate to a review of the instruments governing the civil service and a review of the procedures between administrations and within each administration, in order to improve the quality of services. Training and institutional support programmes for the different structures will be set up. The establishment of mechanisms which promote transparency in the management of public affairs, including, in particular, the promotion of a culture of periodic evaluation, will be taken into consideration. The Administration should be equitable, devoted to the common good, capable above all of explaining to those who inquire the pertinency of the decisions taken at the highest level and applying them in the field.

The promotion of local governance in order to make sure that the needs of the people are better taken into account through participatory planning; strengthening of the process of decentralization by a satisfactory implementation of the policy of regionalizaton; a better utilization of local potentialities and resources; and the meeting of the people's real needs for lasting development.

The consolidation of democratic evolution through the strengthening and transparency of the electoral process. At this level, the areas of activity to be carried on will include inter alia civic education, the question of equality between the sexes, the strengthening of the National Assembly’s capacity for monitoring, the strengthening of civil society and the support given to continuing consultations between civil society, the Administration and the private sector. The objective is the establishment of mechanisms for effective, equitable and representative participation, for the protection of human rights and civil liberties and for the strengthening and transparency of the institutions entrusted with their management.

The improvement of the juridical environment is aimed at reaffirming the preeminence of the law. What is in fact needed is to create a culture of respect for law between the various powers and among citizens. Legality, the right to a proper administration of justice, the right of access to the tribunals, a guarantee of fair trials, the right to have legal proceedings conducted publicly, the impartiality of judges and the principle of proportionality, inter alia the proportionality of punishment, are all factors which will help to establish the rule of law.

The promotion of a business environment through the encouragement of private investment. Foreign or national investors will act only in a safe and stable environment, with clear rules which are respected by everyone. They need a firmly assured public order and the strengthening of the rule of law. In addition to a clear juridical and fiscal environment, it is important to have an attractive investment code and an appropriate body of labour legislation, more lenient fiscal and customs provisions and clear rules for the allocation of procurement contracts, as well as channels of appeal and a proper conduct of justice. The democratization of business rests on the total liberalization of the economy.

The programme will be built around four components which cover the entire area of good governance: improvement of the effectiveness of the public Administration; fuller development of the democratic system of local governance; improvement of the judicial system and the business climate; and capacity building for management and for developmental planning.

The implementation of the components, whose degree of maturity varies as the life cycle of the project advances, is a challenge to all citizens of the country, since it requires everyone's commitment and determination in a rigorous management of development. For each component, the general considerations, the specific objectives and the actions and measures to be taken will be presented successively.

The need to establish a more favourable context for economic and social development has led the State to promote a high-quality macroeconomic framework. The attainment of this major objective of the country’s economic policy helps to make the Senegalese economy more efficient, and consequently to improve the people's general standard of living. In order to consolidate and develop these advances better, it is important to adapt the public institutions and their method of operation to the context of globalization of the economy and of the growth of a social demand with ever-rising expectations.

Establishing an administration capable of promoting the conditions for confidence, the flowering of human capacities and the success of enterprises by a sound and effective conduct of public affairs with transparency and rigour;

Strengthening the institutional streamling of the Administration in order to adapt it to the needs of ongoing changes both at the national and at the international level;

Improving the management of human resources by revising the provisions that govern the civil service, with a view to promoting accountability among civil servants and increasing their productivity; and

Improving the quality of the services provided to all clients.

These objectives are daslt with in three segments: institutional reform, civil service and improvement of the relations between clients and the Administration.

The activities expected for this segment are:

streamlining of administrative structures and simplification of the staffing tables of the services;

generalization of the use of computers and interconnections between all the services;

continued efforts to ease administrative, customs, fiscal and investment-approval procedures, in pursuance of the objectives of UEMOA;

accelerating the adoption of the draft decree relating to public markets;

increasing the prerogatives of the technical Ministries in the mobilization of expenditures (operation and investment) and the creation of a strong structure for monitoring the allocation of public expenditures;

improving transparency in investment expenditures, with a detailed accounting of the categories of expenditures of the projects in the PTIP;

deconcentration of decision-making centres and heightening of the personal accountability of civil servants in the quality of the documents with which they deal;

The activities expected for this segment are:

review of the general status of the civil service and improvement of the system of staff management;

establishment of a programme for the redeployment of staff in order to promote education and health;

the pursuit of experience by education volunteers and the extension of their experience to other sectors;

updating of the recommendations arising from an audit of the personnel of the civil service, in particular the systematic updating of their databases, streamling of plans relating to the personnel of the various Ministries, preparation of a manual of procedures, and computerization and integrated management of three databases (civil service, salaries and technical Ministries);

implementation of the system of evaluation of tasks and remuneration based on merit;

finalization of the programme relating to retirement pensions and improvement of planning and coverage of the inherent costs;

the effective preparation of a chart for deconcentration; and

support for the continuing training of the administrative authorities and the civil servants employed in the State's external services.

The activities expected for this segment are:

surveys among clients to find out their opinions on the quality of the public services and of State employees who provide them;

the establishment, after these surveys and other pertinent studies, of a plan of action in consonance with clients and State employees aimed at improving the civil service, and then putting this plan into operation;

the appointment in each service of a staff member acting as a public-relations adviser;

the establishment of an annual chart covering the service benefits that the Administration or the para-public sector undertakes to provide to clients;

the adoption of a system in which a transmittal slip is stapled to each administrative file, showing name and date of receipt and transmittal, for more accurate monitoring of its handling; and

strengthening of civil protection by an increase in public security measures and in the prevention of natural or accidental risks.

The democratic process must evolve further in order to attain the objectives of good governance. Freedom of association in groups which will respect the fundamental law has already been achieved. The objective of this component is to see to it that each citizen has an opportunity to influence, by voluntary participation, the political, social and professional life of the country, in a spirit of solidarity and of strengthening national unity. It is into this process that we must incorporate regionalization, which aims at a better distribution of the decision-making centres in order to bring the Administration closer to the citizen. It is in this spirit that programmes to improve the level of instruction and literacy of the citizens, thereby helping to consolidate democracy, are now being carried on.

Civil society must be strengthened in order to participate better not only in the introduction of lasting democracy but also in the practice of proper conduct of public affairs, both at the national and at the local level. Thus, in order to play their role as trainers and educators more effectively, non-governmental organizations and organizations of workers, young people, women and the general population must be strengthened.

Strengthening the expertise of the Parliament and the Economic and Social Council in order that they may effectively play their role as monitors of the Executive, as advisors and as the force that makes proposals to the executive and legislative branches;

Improving the capacities for organizing elections and consolidating freedom of association and expression;

Promoting a rule of law which possesses genuine authority and is respectful of fundamental human rights and democratic principles, protects individual and collective freedoms, guarantees the equality of citizens before the law and respects their human dignity, inter alia that of minorities and prisoners;

Promoting a civil society which is involved in the management of public affairs, by strengthening civic education and by making citizens more aware and informing them about their rights and duties;

Continuing the implementation of the policy of decentralization, strengthening the participatory process and the capacities of decentralized entities and expanding the access of local communities to financial resources; and

Implementing regional, communal and local development plans, on the basis inter alia of the National Plan for the Management of the Territory, and monitoring the formulation and management of regional and local policies by the regional development agencies.

This component includes two segments: the democratic system and decentralization.

In the sphere of democratization, the strengthening of the process takes place first of all through the holding of free and transparent elections, in order to have legitimate institutions. These institutions will be strengthened in their role, with a view to ensuring greater effectiveness of the exercise of power and of the rule of law. The activities expected for this segment are:

the promotion of republican values through citizen education (the governors, the governed, the administrators and the administered...), with full respect for the common good and for the symbols and institutions of the Republic by reaffirming the value of civic instruction (in schools, publicity spots, etc.), by raising the flag in front of all public buildings and by translating into the national languages the fundamental documents of the Republic (the Constitution, the statutes and regulations, the electoral code, etc.);

the strengthening of consensus among the parties concerned, inter alia around the recasting of the electoral database, the electoral code and the distribution of voter cards and financing of political parties;

increasing the capacity of the structures entrusted with organization (the General Directorate of Elections, monitoring and supervision (Direction générale des élections, du contrôle et de la supervision -- ONEL) and the announcement of the results (the Constitutional Council, the Council of State and the Court of Appeals) in order to ensure transparency of the elections;

the use of new technologies in information and communication for the electoral process, generalization of the national identity card and strengthening of the Administration’s neutrality in voting operations;

strengthening of the legislative power -- by giving parliamentarians and senators the means to play their role, inter alia that of monitoring the executive branch, by strengthening their expertise through the use of parliamentary assistants in questions relating to development and by making more functional premises and a more functional documentation centre available to them;

building the Economic and Social Council’s capacities for analysis in order to improve the quality of its advice;

guaranteeing freedom of the press, protection of journalists in the exercise of their functions and strengthening of respect for their professional code of ethics;

the establishment of mechanisms to guarantee respect for the conditions of competition between different elements of the media;

expanding the capacities and broadening the competence of the High Council on Audio-Visual Communication, inter alia for the