Cote d'Ivoire: Government Ethics Charter

Government Ethics Charter

Preamble

The Ministerial function represents  a very important public responsibility at State level. It is based on confidence, on one hand, between the sovereign people  of Côte d’Ivoire and the President of the Republic and, on the other, between the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, Head of Government and each minister.

By our free adherence to the present Charter “Government Ethics Charter”, we, members of the Government of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire,  show our engagement to be at the service of the President of the Republic and  the people.

Having received the confidence of the President of the Republic, on one hand for the reconciliation of Ivorians and the reconstruction of our country, and on the other hand, for the  sustainable socio-economic development  and the consolidation of a State of rights, we declare our adherence to the ten (10) cardinal values that follow:

1. Sense of State and  love of Country: Each member of Government shall uphold the fundamental values of the Republic: Union, Discipline and Labour. S/He shall, in speech, action, and behaviour, honour the Country and behave in conformity to the principles of our motto. The love of Côte d’Ivoire shall be upheld over regional, ethnic, political and religious particularities.

2. Respect for Dignity and human Life:  Each member of Government  shall consider life as sacred. Therefore S/He shall abstain from all manner of speech, and action that is susceptible to endanger dignity and human life.

3.  Primacy of the General Interest: All decisions, actions, or task shall be geared  and implemented in the perspective of the general interest, according to  requirements and standards in place and to  the quality which justifies the available resources. Conscious of the ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity of the our country, each member of Government  must make efforts at her/his  personal level as well as as  within the department under her/him  to only consider the  general interest.

4.  Solidarity and Cohesion:  All decisions and actions of the Government  are guided by the principles of collegiality and solidarity.  They involve each member in their elaboration and in their implementation. Members of Government are therefore  under the obligation of reserve and confidentiality  that behoves  government work.  The right of reserve shall include all debates in State Council, Ministerial Council, and in a general manner, all government meetings, as well as their  related correspondences.

5.  Good Governance:  Each member of Government shall seek to cultivate excellence and promote the practices of good governance in her/his ministerial department  and within the structures placed under her/his authority. The strict respect of the laws of the Republic is a national interest necessity on which depends  both the moral rise of our country and its sustainable and integral development.  In keeping with the right to information of the sovereign people, each member of Government also pledges to account for  the actions of her/his department whose results shall be imputed to her/him

6.  Responsibility: Each member of Government is the sole responsible of her/his ministerial department and pledges, in her/his being and conscience, to assume the charges and carry out the mission to which s/he has been called for the greater interest of the nation. Members of Government have an obligation to results. They shall assume the success or the failure of their actions and mission according to the principle of responsibility.

7.  Integrity and Probity: As a model for fellow citizens, each member of Government pledges to cultivate, at all times and in all places, the moral  and ethical values that shall induce higher morals for the Ivorian society: rightness, integrity, probity and incorruptibility.

8. Justice and Equity: In the respect of differences and particularism, members of Government work in a spirit of justice, of equity and of balance among them, in their respective departments and in their relations with users.  Equity shall be promoted in public practices.

9.  Permanent Dialogue and Availability:  Each member of Government shall consecrate her/himself, as a priority, to the exercise of the missions  that constitute her/his attributions and shall be wholly available to this effect. S/he  shall, by the way, maintain a permanent and objective  dialogue, based on republican ideas, notable with  other members of Government, the social bodies and other actors in the sector

10.  Civility, Courtesy and Moderation: Each member  of Government  pledges, in words and action, to the respect of the rules of decorum, courtesy and moderation which constitute the  fundamental conditions on which  group, organisational and societal cohesion is built.

We, members of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, pledge to respect this Charter  which we have freely given ourselves on this Tuesday August 9, 2011.

And consequently, we  sign in the presence of the President of the Republic

The official and original document is found on the site of the Government of Côte d'Ivoire.  This  English version is  graciously offered  by NNENNA.ORG

Will power sharing work in Côte d'Ivoire? 10 critical questions.

Elections for the presidential run off took place in Côte d'Ivoire on Sunday the 28th of November. A curfew was set in place two days before. It is the 10th of November today. What the country has is double of what they voted for: 2 Presidents, 2 Prime Ministers, 2 Parallel governments and 2 electoral authorities. Add the curfew to all of that!

The doubles run deep. In the physical layout of the country itself, in its media, in the administration and within the population. Hardly can you see a neutral Ivorian on the street these days. The Twitter platform that was overtaken by the #civ2010 tweets is also running viral between two extremes. The "objective" tweets are getting rare.

So Mbeki has come and gone. The United Nations, the African Union, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, The Africa-Caribbean-Pacific organisation,the Economic Community of West African States and a host of international financial institutions have made their declarations and have all called for this or that.

Are issues getting sorted out? Is the situation seeing the end of the tunnel? Are the fuzzy areas getting cleared? I cannot say. What we have now is talk of a "unity government", a power sharing government or a national unified government.

For me, here are a few questions that are begging answers..

1. There have been instances in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Do we have an instance in Africa with the French-speaking countries?
2. Will the opinion of the voters/population count?
3. What arrangement will there be for the armed men (since women do not join the army in the country as of now)?
4. Will this power-sharing be facilitated? If yes, by who?
5. What will this mean for the electoral commission and the constitutional council? Will they share power too?
6. In the other elections that follow, if the same "presidential condition" arises, will power sharing also be the option?
7. Will this hasten or lengthen the peace process in the country or not?
8. Will the HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) debt cancellation come through?
   
9. Will this power-sharing become a trend in Africa, with the host of elections scheduled for the next years?
10. To whom will power ultimately be given to? Knowing fully well that in both power sharing instances, ultimate power finally came down to one of the parties.
    

Just asking...

Understanding the Cote d'Ivoire crisis through the figures

I am trying to make a head out of all the haze around the elections. Here is what I am doing here.

1. I took the results of the first round. This one was the 'darling'. It was proclaimed by the Commission Electorale Indépendente - CEI, confirmed by the Conseil Constitutionel - CC, certified by the United Nations Chief, and applauded by the whole world. So I figured this one will be the basis since everyone accepted it.
2. I am looking at the results that have been declared final by the CC. They are on this link.
3. Then the one by the CEI which is here.

Here is what I am seeing in this juxtaposition:

1. Number of registered voters. In the first round it was 5 784 490. In the second round, the CEI has the same figures. The CC has 5 725 721. That is a difference of 58 769.
   
2. Total number of votes. In the first round it was 4 843 445. For the second round, the CEI has 4,689,321 and the CC has 4 081 765. The difference is 697 556
3. Invalid votes. For the first round, the total was 225 624 which was 4.66%. For the second round, a lot of ease was given to voters. What we have now is CEI: 101,476 and CC: 88 556. The difference here is 12 920
4. Number of valid votes. For the first round we had 4 617 821. For the second we have from CEI: 4,657,614 and CC: 3 993 209. The difference here is 664 405
5. Percentage of voter turn out. For the first round we had: 83.73%. What I see here in the second round is CEI: 80.19% and CC: 71.28%
6. Results: In the first round, the 3 major candidates totaled 95.35% in the following order Gbagbo: 38.04%, Ouattara 32.07% and Bedié 25.24%.
   
7. Alliances. Bedié rallied behind Ouattara. So did Mabri Toikeuse who earned 2.57% and two others. Gbagbo received support from some candidates of the first round.

The results of this second round as we have now is:

CEI, certified by UN:

Ouattara: Winner
Number of votes: 2 521 450
Percentage of votes: 54.14%

Gbagbo: loser
Number of votes: 2 136 149
Percentage of votes: 45.86%

CC

Gbagbo: Winner
Number of votes: 2 054 537
Percentage: 51.45%

Ouattara: loser
Number of votes: 1 938672
Percentage of votes: 48.55%

On canceled votes.

I have heard conflicting reports on areas where votes where canceled. The CEI did not cancel any departments or regions. But the CC canceled votes within some departments in 3 regions. I am taking a look at those departments, especially trying to compare the trends of the first round.

		Gbagbo		Ouattara
Region	Dept	1st Round	2nd Round	1st Round	2nd Round
Savanes	Boundiali	5263	5880	42838	51140
	Ferké	3032	2774	71082	84153
	Korhogo	10110	11135	126646	154890
V Bandama	Bouaké	13899	22845	83059	136943
	Dabakala	1747	1803	26804	34398
	Katiola	5342	6079	28895	38416
Worodougo	Seguéla	2444	2002	37406	44552

This is a quick attempt to make a note for myself. I will come back and read the blog and maybe I can make analyses.

The Ivorian presidential elections. Complete analysis of Diaspora votes

	Laurent Gbagbo		Allasane Ouattara		Bedié
Country	1st Round	2nd Round	1st Round	2nd Round	1st Round
South Africa	165	173	107	142	36
Burkina Faso	330	305	433	592	109
Canada	335	404	279	366	117
Danemark	92	101	22	32	8
England	635	726	497	603	183
France	0	0	0	0	0
Germany	89	111	83	93	17
Ghana	264	298	162	235	89
Gabon	101	108	642	676	50
Guinea	233	219	254	287	43
Italy	456		1052		236
Mali	213	238	636	736	88
Morocco	129	164	187	201	50
Senegal	442		462		137
Spain	57	76	195	187	30
Switzerland	153	175	76	117	74
Tunisia	134	157	123	197	83
USA	645	728	1513	1630	312

Brou Aka Pascal: le débat d'une vie

Bébé: Mhmm. Donc finallement c'est lui ils ont prit
Mimi: Tu veux dire Brou Aka Pascal? C'est lui kê. Tu voulais que ça soit qui?
BB: Ils n'ont pas trouvé mieux?
MM: Comment ça “ils n'ont pas trouvé mieux”? Tu lui réproches quoi?
BB: Toi aussi, c'est comme si tu le connais pas?
MM: Je le connais kê. C'est un journaliste à la RTI. Il est là depuiiiisss
BB: En tout cas, s'il ne tenait qu'à moi, ce sera pas lui?
MM: Il t'a fait quoi?
BB: Je me souviens encore, aux prémières heures, il fait partie de ceux qui ont accusé les gens pour ne rien. Il a tenu des propos de la haine. Depuis là, moi, en tout cas je l'ai classé.
MM: C'est comme ça vous classer les gens cadeau. Donc un journaliste n'a plus droit à une opinion?
BB: Son opionion ne me regarde pas, mais il a tenu des propos à la Télé. Ce sont surtout ces propos là qui ont attisé et qui continuent à attiser la haine.
MM: Vraiment, toi je te comprends pas. Ce que vous voulez ce sont les gens qui vous disent ce que vous voulez entendre.
BB: Moi je ne lui ai riend demandé. Je dis que quand un journaliste parle à la Télé, il est obligé d'observer des règles de la déontologie.
MM: Et c'est toi qui connait droit, déontologie, ontologie, tous les logies quoi?
BB: C'est pas lui qui a fait le dernier interview de ADO? Tu n'a pas vu qu'à un moment il a mouillé? Il n'avait plus rien à dire?
MM: Il était modérateur, ce sont les autres qui posaient les questions!
BB: Ma chère, moi je dis, Laciné Fofana est mieux.
MM: Un Fofana? Vraiment.. donc c'est ça tu as pu trouvé?
BB: Oui, lui au moins, il dirige bien les débats.
MM: Donc c'est un Fofana que tu veux. Nous on veux une éthnie neutre dans cette affaire
BB: Ah bon? Donc toi tu classe les journalistes par éthnies? Je ne savais pas..
MM: C'est pas que je les classe par éthnie, je veux dire que dans ce genre de choses, mieux vaut prendre un journaliste qui n'est ni du nord, ni de l'ouest.
BB: Ah oo. Comme si lui là, on sait pas qu'il est pro un candidat?
MM: Depuis quand? D'où tu sors ça encore?
BB: Ma cherie on se connait ici ouais.
MM: Pardon laisse Brou Aka Pascal dans son coin. Franck Anderson Kouassi a dit qu'ils se sont consultés et ont trouvé un consensus..
BB: Qui et qui? Lui et Lanciné? Mhmm. Je suis sure qu'il a fait le coup de 'Jeune frère grand frère”
MM: Ma Chérie, il faut quand même reconnaitre qu'il est le Rédacteur en Chef de la 1ere. C'est pas seulement l'âge. C'est un Monsieur qui a duré dans le travail!
BB: Ah, si c'est ça, on aurait du prendre carrément le Directeur de la RTI en même temps!
MM: Toi aussi.
BB: Comment moi aussi? Comme on y va de Brou en Brou
MM: Et l'autre Brou, Felix?
BB: Non, lui il fait seulement du sport à la RTI
MM: Au moins il doit avoir l'esprit fair play..
BB: Ca va pas chez toi? Ce débat n'est pas un jeu. On est pas en ASEC-Africa là!
MM: Mais c'est tout comme. On donne des coûps et on en reçoit. Avec les fans qui s'affrontent..
BB: Tu n'a pas toute affaire tort! Surtout qu'il faut tirer au sort pour savoir le positionnement
MM: Positionnement par apport à quoi? Ou bien à qui?
BB: Au journaliste bien sur! Qui sera à sa gauche et qui sera à sa droite
MM: Comme quoi il est devenu le Bon Dieu quoi?
BB: Ma Chérie, pardon laissons Brou Aka Pascal. C'est le jour de son jour
MM: En tout cas, après ça il mettre en son CV “Modérateur du 1er débat présidentiel Ivoirien”
BB: Et alors?
MM: Mhmm. Tu sais, s'il fait bien on pourrait le nommer prochaine DG de la RTI
BB: Tchié toi aussi! C'est arrivé la bas?
MM: Ma chère, il aura devant lui ce soir, un Président, et un ancien Prémier Ministre.

Et surement le prochain président du pays!

En tout cas... affaire à suivre