Patrice Talon : A misunderstood hero ?

At the bottom of the wave today, Will President Patrice Talon be seen as a hero tomorrow? ?

Even in the absence of a scientific survey in Benin, it is not complicated to see that the President of the Republic is at the bottom of his popularity among his compatriots, unlike foreigners treading the soil of Benin. For these last ones, especially from the Sahelian States, Patrice Talon is simply good. Comparison with the socio-political situation of their own countries must be the parameters.. The fact remains that the Beninese are really suffering. They therefore have well-founded reasons to reject a regime that they nevertheless installed with enthusiasm..

Elected with more than 64% in 2016, the current president was seen as a savior, a successful entrepreneur whom they hoped to see use the method he made his fortune for the benefit of collective development. Over the years, fervor gave way to disenchantment. In the meantime, inflation has been there, with all its repercussions on the household basket. The eviction of economic actors installed along the roads, the blocking of passage routes for agricultural products destined for neighboring countries, layoffs... are all angry subjects and which explain the fall in popularity of the Head of State.

Today, the regime rejected in 2016 is seen as a lost paradise. The former president, yet dealt with all the names on the eve of the election which resulted in the alternation, is today the muse of the people. Wherever he treads, it is popular jubilation which gives way to criticism.

This contrasting picture clearly illustrates the destiny of all the presidents in office in Benin. A sitting head of state is never good. Freedom of expression being more or less real, he must face criticism or even insults for situations for which he is often not even responsible. Towards the end of the Marxist-Leninist Revolution of the 1990s 70 and 80, General Mathieu Kérékou, then head of state, had made a joke to express his annoyance at the often unfounded criticism of the populations. He pretty much said this : even their door handle gets damaged : “it’s the government”.

First democratically elected president in 1991, Nicéphore Soglo's mission was to lay the foundations of a new state while beginning the construction of road infrastructure which was sorely lacking.. But during the presidential election five years later, the same population who applauded him and “vomited” the revolutionary Kérékou, had declared that we “don’t eat the pavement”. A way of saying that he only built roads they didn't need instead of giving them food..

At the bottom of the wave today, there is no doubt that Patrice Talon can be well perceived, retrospectively, like a hero especially with the reforms and infrastructure he achieves, following what his predecessors did.

Damien TOLOMISSI