The role played by the judicial review in good governance processes linked to decentralization: the case of Togo

Abstract

Judicial review of local authorities’ actions is necessary for the success of the process of decentralization as it allows conciliation of the principle of legality and the principle of free administration as elements of good governance. The judicial review joins thus a general movement of transformations aiming to strengthen democracy and the efficiency of public actions. It is then necessary to give to this control a definition adapted to this general context, an operating definition letting appear institutional reforms that must join this general movement of transformations.

Points for practitioners

The process of decentralization which started a few years ago in Togo, in the framework of the establishment of good governance, cannot be realized in the absence of guarantees for respect of the law on decentralization, in particular of the new repartition of the competences the law introduces. These guarantees are offered by the control of legality which is a process during which the representative of the state verifies the conformity of the acts carried out by the local authorities. In the Togolese context, the modalities of this control are recommended in function of institutional reforms which necessarily accompany this process.