Grief: General François Kouyami is no longer

General François Kouyami, died in France this Thursday 17 October 2024. The man who only has a strong sense of patriotism but a sportsman at heart. Gaskiyani Info invites you to discover the history and universe of this Great Mister.

At the civil status François Kouyami, born in Cotonou from the union of a father Nago, ethnic group generally from Porto-Novo and a mother, Mina, native du Mono-Couffo, the General does not speak the language of one or the other. Anything he regrets. He grew up in Cotonou, did his schooling and even the beginnings of his training.

Slightly tanned complexion, hair and mustache bleached with age, wrinkled face, the General has already counted his 78 years of existence on planet earth with the precision that it was not born "towards" but rather "the". Keen eyes, good body frame, with the face of an angel reflecting a man with a character where gentleness and rigor mingle, General Kouyami is a handsome man whose youthful build can be imagined.

Leaning on a cane to balance his now slow walk, he likes to shave his beard letting admire a well-trimmed white fly. Blackish spots caused by glare from the sun marked part of his face. Castling voice, broad shoulders, hands shaking especially when he gestures, wear deep gashes, his palms and dry fingers, the furrows of the third age man. "My cells have reached their peak", he said with humor.

In truth, everything about him is old, except his brain, his gaze and his eyes, edged with lashes always cheerful and brave, and all this in a tenacious spirit capable of resuscitating you from the highlights of his life or those of the institutions he has known and even from revolution to democracy. The General has memory. To paraphrase the Guinean writer Camara Laye, the General is a living library. A library that is regularly updated through social networks, especially the most used in Benin, whatsapp. "If you don't have this, you are not current ", he recognizes.

Big in size almost 2 meters, he is also by his intellectual background, what did I say, his career in the military and political hierarchy. Provided with a scholarship for training in medicine in Senegal, he will never make the trip since one month before departure, a brother-in-law offered to let his father join the army. "Soon it will be the military who will lead this country. Let your comrades go to training. At their return, it is you who will order them ", he argued.

A great sportsman but also of the army

Grand officer, the General did his military training in Bembèrèkè then in France. He was the very first Beninese soldier trained as a warlord. Which earned him absolute respect in Benin if not that his name often thrills in the political-military sphere.. On the evening of the coup d'etat of 26 October 72, this great admirer of Colonel Alley, is appointed Director of National Security. In 1975, solicited by General Kérékou that he devote him a real admiration, he was appointed minister of the civil service then 6 month later, that of youth, popular culture and sports. A more than meteoric rise for the second youngest minister in the then revolutionary government. This passage allowed me to promote youth, he lets go. He does not mention any, Mansourou Arèmou, current president of the African handball confederation, Julien Minavoa president of the Beninese National Olympic and Sports Committee but also the female gender.

Franc, authentic, sincere and sometimes rebellious, he says it as he feels it. In 1976, he never digested the decision of the then revolutionary regime to ban elite sport in favor of the practice of mass sport. Unruly as he sometimes defines himself, he did not buy into this military-Marxist decision and even refused to implement it. Sad. It is with this word that he describes this decision which cut short the practice of elite sport. It is the same word he chooses to appreciate the footballing environment of today where the pitches are stripped of the public for league matches and where money and greed have replaced the search for football. 'Excellency, talent and promotion of young people. The truth. In our time, we had our Ronaldo, citing as an example Do Rego Sadou, former player of the Dragons de l’Ouémé.

His best memory, he holds it in this king sport. It was during an Entente Council tournament, major regional institution then in West Africa. Despite the 5th place, Benin had amazed more than one, even President Félix Houphouet-Boigny who did not refrain from personally rewarding Beninese players. It was October 1979. Besides Do Régo Sadou, there was among others Ali Kpara Ludovic, David feliho, Foly Damien, Herman Gbogbodada, Adolphe Ogouyon. "We had given Beninese sport a face", remembers the General.

Patriotism, leitmotif of General Kouyami

Celebrity of the gendarmerie, eminent personality of the Benin army during the revolutionary period 1972-1990 or even beyond, the General climbed all the levels of professional and military life. After his years as a practicing sportsman, basketball player, handball player, minister, the General has passed 8 years at the head of the Beninese taekwondo federation. His journey, he describes it as "quite enriching".

Usually calm, measured, the one who never sits in the back of his vehicle for a driver to drive him, is a meticulous man, attentive giving off an unusual person. He loves work and especially a job well done. With him, Everything in its time, his day and his time. Difficult to reverse the order because man is an orderly man. Ordered like military attire.

The wealth of this world, he doesn't care but the General is an ambitious man for the Beninese nation. This notion of the nation is an integral part of his life and he does not fail to stigmatize the lack of patriotism which characterizes most of the citizens today..

General's gaze on 60 years of Beninese sport

How does the General qualify the balance sheet of 60 years of Benin in sport ? Can do better. If we were really a patriot, we would do better, he regrets while criticizing the organization or the indifference currently granted to the independence cup, a cup that had its weight in gold during the revolutionary period. But the General salutes, the place of the quarter-finalists occupied by Benin at Can Egypt 2019.

Football, he loves her but it depends. Invited to take the head of the Beninese football federation for, they say stop the mess and put it in order, he declined the offer, rather preferring the taekwondo federation, although he said a few years later "that in taekwondo, they are worse than football ". More, compared to other sports disciplines, martial arts are above all spiritual, says the General and it is because men break the rules of this martial art that they suffer certain divine punishments. His stay at the taekwondo federation, he calls it "a unique experience. Souvenirs, he keeps the good and the bad ”. But thanks to his experiences, his abilities and especially his very spiritual human being, he escaped unscathed.

"General what is the place of the spiritual in your life ? ». To this question, he will answer that it is his sensitive point. The spiritual is at the center of all my actions because the invisible entities are always around us. "Even before you get home, I already prayed ". Formerly practicing traditional religions, he also knew Islam, Protestantism and practiced the celestials before returning to the source. "If you don't know what you were born into, you can't go to something else ", "Do you know, yourself ", maxim dear to Socrates, the philosopher but also the General. Occult practices even in sport, he does not castigate them because, "It has always existed in football" but it must be done in a more discreet way, he advises.

Kouyami, a peaceful retreat…

Retired for over fifteen years, he strikes a pose and rests and calls himself "unemployed graduate", always with a good dose of humor.

The General no longer has his stripes even less his military uniform but he remains a General except that he now wears the large boubous long or short sleeve, well embroidered, de tradition Yoruba, which plunge him back into his Nago origins. What he calls a return to the source and refusal of a second colonization. Allusion to the French language, the only language he speaks fluently. "It annoys me not to speak Nago and Mina". No need to consult the oracle, the bitterness is great and the expression is illustrative.

Like any man, the General is not lacking in faults. We say it very rigorous, even too rigorous, we say little smile. Others think he is bossy. No wonder for a gendarmerie officer. This is not without creating hostility or rather detractors, especially in the sports world. But behind this rigor hides a man, likely to use little jokes to relax the atmosphere sometimes to an unexpected degree. Life, she is wonderful and everyone loves her. The General is no exception. But on the evening of these 78 spring, he is gastronomically on a diet. He knows how to feed his desires moderately while preserving his life. No alcohol, no coffee, no sugar and less salt. But the General loves music. Not just any, le makossa, gospel in Yoruba and Ibo language but especially Zulu music, made in South Africa. A dance step with Nelson Mandela would only do good. Alas…

Issa H