7001: Fanmi Lavalas Govt Plan: State Management & Decentralization (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

STATE MANAGEMENT AND DECENTRALIZATION

STATE MANAGEMENT
The start of real modernization and efficient management of public affairs 
must necessarily go through the restoration of the state's authority and a 
reconciliation between citizens and the State.

A strong state requires a strong justice system and strong law enforcement, 
capable of respecting the rules of democracy and enforcing respect for these 
rules.  The affirmation of the State's authority will consist of passing on 
the power's political will to the administrative system.

This State must therefore consciously ensure the economy's orientation, the 
provision and control of basic services in order to prioritize general 
interests.  To do so, the Organization will make sure that within the 
administrations, authority will be exercised by men and women with a sense of 
collective interests, justice and responsibility in the management of state 
affairs.

To reconcile citizens and the State, the Lavalas Organization takes on the 
task of creating a balance between missions of public power and public 
service vested in the State by the Constitution.  During the next five years, 
the Organization is committed to:

a) Redefining the State's structures to bring them closer to the citizens, 
making them more receptive to civil society and more accessible to investors.

b) Increasing the efficiency of the state machinery.

DECENTRALIZATION
For Fanmi Lavalas, decentralization lies in providing the territorial 
assemblies with a number of real decision-making powers in their financial 
management through the transfer of skills to be practiced in a 
pre-established legal framework implemented at the national level.  The 
autonomy of the territorial assemblies must be reinforced and deepened in the 
framework of the renovated rules of the game.  As seen by the Organization, 
decentralization must go through:

a) an in depth change in the financial relations between the State and the 
local assemblies, meaning the departments, the communes and the communal 
sections;

b) the implementation of a system of financial assistance to the local 
assemblies;

The management of public finances requires in depth knowledge of financial 
and administrative management to which every state must subscribe.  The 
Organization will provide management training by way of work meetings, 
workshops, short or lengthy seminars.  It is indeed important to establish 
habits of sound and transparent management where there can be no major 
disbursements without a clear demonstration of options or justifications of 
the least expenditure.