Cost of living in Benin : The silence of consumer associations

While the living conditions of the Beninese deteriorate, consumer associations revel in a silence that contrasts with their mission.

In mid-April 2024, the price of corn has reached an unprecedented peak in Benin. If in certain environments close to areas of large production the bag is traded around 30.000 French, in the big cities, the price is close to 40.000 French. The skyrocketing price of this product is all the more alarming as it constitutes the food base for the majority of Beninese people.. The same trend is observed for other food products such as beans., yam and sorghum.

Price drop expected after first harvests. Only, when sowing should have already taken place, the rainy season is still needed in the hills department and in those to the north which are the major production areas.

In addition to having to spend more on food, Beninese people face many other difficulties all linked to the rise in prices of products and services. Jumbled together we can cite the cost of telephone communications and the internet which no Beninese can do without today..

Several reasons can be put forward to explain this situation.. But these are ultimately linked to the policy adopted by the State. So, for almost a decade, no more food price stabilization structure exists in the country, what delivers consumers to the voracious appetite of consumers. On another side, service providers justify the increase in their prices by the taxes they claim are increasing.

This is the moment when consumer associations should step up to advocate for better pricing policies in order to relieve citizens.. But everything suggests that they are missing. Only a few trade union organizations spoke out to denounce the high cost of living.

They deserted the forum, at a time when people need them. A cathedral silence which cannot be explained in the face of the advanced deterioration of the social malaise experienced by all Beninese. Since then, it was necessary to have voices that carried far. And God only knows, how many there are in the ranks of consumer associations which, against all odds, vegetate in complicit silence, notorious or even suicidal. The people continue to carry their cross, defenseless.

Consumer associations no longer speak. They prefer silence to action. Their mouths are sewn. They see nothing and listen to nothing. A rather suspicious collective attitude which suggests dangerous connections and attempts to compromise. The situation is going from bad to worse. There is reason to sound the alarm to hope that things will change in the right direction. This deafening and prolonged silence from consumer associations is frightening. Perhaps the cost of living is not a subject of interest which requires sustained actions alongside the populations on their part..

Damien TOLOMISSI