Beninese fear their democracy may soon be under attack
BY LOU SIFA (Updated on 2 June.) Checks and balances—a notion rooted in the separation of powers to ensure no one branch of government has too much power to be able to control another—are...
Tagged: democracy in Benin
Benin’s democracy of paradoxes
Coined the ‘democratic lab of Africa,’ Benin is the theater of a thriving democracy with striking paradoxes. BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU The former French colony of Dahomey, which was renamed Benin in 1975, was coined...
Benin boasts the best indigenous cabs in West Africa
A government-initiated cab service operated by private individuals proves a game-changer for visitors and nationals in Benin. BY SUE B. SIMON Gone are the days when tourists or businessmen visiting Cotonou, the largest city...
Can Togo’s president Faure Gnassingbe survive the growing popular revolt?
BY JIBRIL TURE It’s anybody’s guess whether President Faure Gnassingbe can survive the nationwide growing popular revolt that, for more than two months, has shaken the two largest cities in the country, Lome and...
Benin’s regrettable absence from the global communication
BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU I was inspired the following remarks by an article published in the issue #6805 of the daily Beninese newspaper La Nation dated Monday, 21 July, an article published on the heels...
Why the feud between the Soglo family and President Talon?
BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU The recent abrupt two-month suspension of Cotonou mayor Lehady Soglo, followed, five days later, by his outright removal from office, has a lot—but not everything—to do with the mayor violating his...
Cotonou mayor’s suspension for “grave faults” causes stir
BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU The two-month suspension of Cotonou mayor Lehady Soglo due to “grave faults” moments after he was audited on Friday by his superior, the “prefet” of the Littoral administrative region, caused quite...
President Talon of Benin’s church attendance draws a crowd
BY LOU SIFA President Patrice Talon of Benin attended mass this Sunday morning at Eglise Notre Dame des Apotres in Cotonou, an event that drew a crowd of onlookers. A president’s church attendance is...
Political masturbation in Benin over President Talon’s long absence
BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU President Patrice Talon of Benin returned home Sunday after a lengthy, 24-day stay in France for medical treatment that triggered an explosion of vicious attacks on him in the social media....
Tension reaches the boiling point in Benin–Talon shaken
BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU The resignation, Monday, of Benin’s Minister Delegate for Defense, Candide Azannai, “to protest the latest political developments in our country,” added fuel to the growing social tension born out of the...
