BENIN: PRESIDENT YAYI FIRES TRANSPORT AND PORTS MINISTER

UNCLAS COTONOU 001153 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W (DBANKS) PARIS FOR D'ELIA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EWWY PGOV PREL PINR BN SUBJECT: BENIN: PRESIDENT YAYI FIRES TRANSPORT AND PORTS MINISTER REF: (A) COTONOU 944; (B) COTONOU 1149; (C) COTONOU 782 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On November 20, President Yayi dismissed the Minister for Transports, Public Works and Urban Development, Mr. Alexandre Dossou Kpedetin. At the same time he split the portfolio into two, bringing the total number of ministers to 23. The new Minister of Public Works and Transport is Richard Senou, and the new Minister for Urban Development and Social Housing is Francois Noudegbessi. This is the second minister fired by President Yayi since he took office in April 2006. END SUMMARY ¶2. (SBU) Local press reports indicate that Mr. Dossou Kpedetin was dismissed because he had mishandled an important infrastructure project related to new housing construction funded by a wealthy Malaysian businessman. Post had dealt frequently with Minister Dossou, since the Port of Cotonou is a major focus of Millennium Challenge Account activity. Minister Dossou also was involved in recent visits to Benin by the US Coast Guard on ISPS standards (REF A) and the Nov. 13-15 conference on Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea (REF B). In our interactions, Minister Dossou had appeared competent, attempting several reforms to improve operations at the Port, although for several of these reforms there was still considerable more improvement needed. From conversations with President Yayi just after his inauguration, it appeared that Dossou was among a handful of ministers who Yayi did not know particularly well, but who he had appointed because they came well-recommended. ¶3. (U) Dossou is the second minister (out of twenty-two ministerial positions) dismissed by President Yayi during his seven months in office. In August 2006, Yayi fired Collette Houeto, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, in a dispute over senior appointments in her ministry (REF C). ¶4. (U) The presidential decree announcing the dismissal also split the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Urban Development into two separate ministries and designated new ministers for both. Mr. Frangois Noudegbessi as Minister of Urban Development and Social Housing, and Mr. Richard Mahougnon Senou as Minister of Public Works and Transports. This change raises the number of ministries in Yayi's government to 23. ¶5. (U) BIO NOTES ON NOUDEGBESSI: Prior to his appointment, Mr. Noudegbessi was a senior civil servant who served as the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Urban Development under Mr. Dossou. His wife is an FSN who works in the Embassy's MCC office. His appointment would seem to indicate that the President's displeasure was targeted at Dossou personally, rather than overall dissatisfaction with the functioning of the Ministry. ¶6. (U) BIO NOTES ON SENOU: Mr. Senou, the new Transport Minister, who will now oversee the Port, had been serving as a Special Advisor for economic affairs (Charge de Mission) in President Yayi's office prior to his appointment as minister. Previously, he had worked as Auditor and Financial Analyst for the World Bank. He was one of the twenty-six candidates for president in the first round of the March 2006 election, finishing fourteenth. He then endorsed Boni Yayi in the run-off. BROWN