Cash-strapped government can’t pay for poll

A continuing economic crisis in Benin has left the government without funds to pay for presidential elections in March 2006, according to Finance Minister Cosme Sehlin. Unlike the heads of states of regional neighbours Chad, Burkina Faso and Gabon, President Mathieu Kerekou has agreed to step down next March when his second mandate expires. But Benin’s cash crunch could harm this gesture of democracy. During parliamentary question time last week, Finance Minister Sehlin confirmed that government books are in the red to the tune of US $57 million, with no means of raising the US $58 million more to pay for elections. “The budget is already in a deficit of 32.1 billion CFA [US $57m] and we have been unable to identify sources of funding. Add to this the cost of presidential elections in March 2006, this budget deficit will worsen to 64.7 billion CFA [US $115 million],” said Sehlin. One-time coup leader turned elected president, Kerekou won his second consecutive term in office in 2002 and under the constitution cannot stand for a third term in office in March. Marking his difference with other regional heads of state already in office for more than two decades, the septuagenarian president has said he will not change the terms of the constitution but will step down at the end of his current mandate instead. Sehlin did not rule out the possibility of a delay in the electoral calendar, as a result of the economic crisis. But a postponement of the poll would leave Benin in constitutional limbo as there is no provision for failure of elections due to a lack of cash - only the death or deposition of the incumbent president. As part of a series of emergency measures, government spending will have to be reined in, warned Sehlin. “In this very difficult environment, the state is forced to make some very delicate choices given social spending and current fixed obligations,” said Sehlin. Civil servants are fearful their salaries could be affected by the cutbacks after the government fell behind on paying fringe benefits to government employees over a year ago. Benin has been in the midst of an economic crisis for over a year. Businesses are closing down across the capital, unemployment is on the rise and the little money people have in their pockets buys less and less on the market place. According to Sehlin, recent economic shocks such as high international oil prices and a flood of refugees into Benin from neighbouring Togo, have made an already dire situation ever more difficult. The international price of oil peaked to record highs of over US $70 per barrel at the beginning of the year and has remained over US $50 per barrel ever since. Some 25,000 Togolese refugees flooded into Benin following election violence in April. The government subsequently called for international assistance to help it offer shelter to the exiles, but a joint appeal made with the government of Ghana - who also took in some 16,000 refugees - has failed to pull in the US $5 million requested. Low international cotton prices have also reduced government incomes, according to the finance minister, who calculated that cotton exports account for 75 percent of government revenue. With just over four months before elections have to be held, no major candidates have shown an interest in filling Kerekou’s shoes. Nicephore Soglo, Benin’s only other post independence president, who snatched victory from Kerekou following elections in 1991, is barred from the poll. Soglo, like Kerekou, is over 70 and legally too old to run as a presidential candidate. The lack of candidates has fuelled scepticism among many Beninese that Kerekou will not vacate the presidency come March. Others blame the country’s economic problems on Kerekou and his cronies, who they say are stuffing their pockets with as much money as possible in the dying days of the regime.