CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE __________________________________________________________________________ 247. The OLC campaign is, however, hampered by the superficial nature of some of the measures taken. The measures do not take into account: the sociocultural dimension of corruption; the extreme politicisation of the public service, coupled with the system of patronage, which is the root cause of impunity and the lack of firmness; the lack of conviction in major corruption cases; the absence of a conviction that corruption can be eliminated; and the absence of real political will to eliminate it. ii. Conclusions of the CRM 248. The CRM noted during meetings with stakeholders that an alarming number of Beninese nationals are involved in corrupt practices. This was traced to many years of delayed salaries during the socialist era. The failure and inability of the government to guarantee salaries has led to people finding ways of surviving – adopting of a philosophy that says “the goat grazes where it is tethered” – and to a culture of corruption that has become endemic over the years. While the meetings with the stakeholders highlighted the widespread nature of corruption, the key players in the country brought to the fore the alarmingly high level of corruption in top government circles in recent decades. The expression “the fish starts to rot from the head” kept cropping up at country meetings to emphasise the gravity of the problem and to point a finger at the perpetrators. 249. Incidence of corruption in Benin. A recent European Development Fund study, titled Benin’s Governance Profile, found that corruption affects all sectors of the public service, especially customs, procurement, the Cotonou Port Authority, the Internal Revenue Service, and others. In addition, a survey by the Public Life Moralisation Unit (CMVP) revealed that between 80% and 90% of customs revenue was lost to the state between 1996 and 1997. 250. The OLC, quoting Irénée Koupaki, the minister of finance, noted that the losses in tax revenues to the state (through fraud by taxpayers, and by tax and customs officials) are valued at 100 billion CFA franc annually. The document continues, quoting the same source, that about 201 billion CFA franc worth of expenditure made by payment order between 2001 and April 2006 have yet to be regularised with authentic supporting documents. This amount represents about one-third of the national budget. 251. A UNDP study conducted as far back as 2000 showed that: 252.  78.8% of Beninese nationals think that the public service is corrupt;  80% of Beninese nationals have no confidence in the justice system; and  83.6% think that the campaign to raise moral standards in public life was not effective. The report of the OLC mentions the following corrupt practices:  104 payment of huge bribes to top officials;