New proposal to change the constitution : A joke in bad taste

Just over two years after the adoption of a new constitution in Benin, a group of supposedly patriotic young people demand a new change, with the key, this time, of a single mandate. This initiative, which looks like a joke, is however taken seriously by the office of the National Assembly.. What worries.

It is at the opening of the ordinary session of Parliament, Thursday 16 September, that Sofiath Schanou, the first parliamentary secretary read a correspondence through which the Coalition des jeunes patriotes movement (Cjp) asks the deputies to make the single mandate a requirement for the post of President of the Republic. A request that can only be satisfied within the framework of a revision of the Constitution. After this announcement, the speaker of parliament, Louis Vlavonou, has assigned the letter to the Law Commission which will have to study it and report its proposals to the plenary.

During the February National Conference 1990, Benin has established a democratic regime characterized by an age limit (70) to be a candidate for the supreme magistracy on the one hand and, the other, by limiting terms of office to two. Since, these two principles have been respected without fail. They have even been reinforced in the new constitution adopted in 2019 under the leadership of President Talon. The latter indeed specifies that no person can run for more than two terms "in his life"..

The question of the single mandate surfaced when in 2016 Patrice Talon, then presidential candidate, indicated that he would make the latter a reality once elected. But he ended up throwing in the towel and had a new constitution adopted without this principle..

A warrant of 7 years or two terms of 5 years each ? The question is important. More, beyond each other's positions, it is the relevance of such a debate that arises today. Ask for a new change to the Constitution, it's throwing oil on the fire. The last elections were marred by violence which caused a lot of damage and above all which led to social division in the country.. The wounds are not yet healed and, in this context, any form of tampering with the fundamental law will only bring about a crisis that the country may have trouble managing.

For a large part of public opinion, this initiative aims to allow President Talon to seek a new mandate legitimized by the fact that it will be a new constitution. The carriers of such a project seem to be blind and deaf to what is happening in the sub-region where the question of the third term has shaken countries like Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea.. So as not to make accomplices, political actors should immediately disassociate themselves, primarily the main beneficiaries of such an initiative.

Patrice Talon : "I will not do a third term"

President Patrice Talon participated on Saturday 10 July 2021 in the blue room of the Cotonou Convention Center at the West African Citizen Summit on Good Governance, alternation and democracy. In his speech, the head of state has insisted that he will not serve a third term.

"I measure the reach of the relay and in front of you how much I will engage, take you as a witness to pass this baton, the third Sunday in May 2026, to the one who will have the confidence of the Beninese people ... I would like to guarantee you that I will ask for an exemption from the state protocol so that the symbol of alternation that you have just given me is part of the elements of the handover ritual ", he promised. Doubting the good faith of the President of the Republic is a peculiarity of Benin society. President Mathieu Kérékou fell victim to this lack of confidence when he promised the nation he would not run for a third term. After him, Yayi Boni also suffered the same fate despite urging his African peers to respect the term limits..

To end calls to run for a third term, President Talon can forbid any individual not to stick his name to such a game. As former Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou did.

Pierre MATCHOUDO