VZCZCXRO7074
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHCO #0871/01 3190721
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 150721Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0002
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1188

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COTONOU 000871 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W (DBANKS) 
PARIS FOR D'ELIA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR BN
SUBJECT: KOUPAKI LOSES POWER IN MINISTERIAL REALINGMENT 
 
REFERENCE: A) COTONOU 508 B) COTONOU 494 C) COTONOU 440 
 
¶1. Summary. In his fourth ministerial re-shuffle since he took 
office a year and a half ago, President Boni Yayi made major changes 
to his economic team on October 2, 2007.  According to press reports 
and reliable sources, Yayi fired Segbegnon HOUNGBO, Minister 
Delegate for Budget in the Office of the Minister of Finance and 
curtailed the portfolio of Pascal KOUPAKI, Minister of State, 
formerly in charge of the Economy, Economic Forecasting, Development 
and the Evaluation of Public Action. Soule Mana LAWANI, Minister of 
Finance, comes out as a winner in the re-shuffle with some of the 
power Koupaki lost. The Ministry of Primary Education, Literacy and 
National Languages has been re-organized.  The President created a 
new Ministry of Literacy and National Languages to be headed by 
Roger Gbegnonvi, a professor and popular political activist. End 
Summary. 
 
2.(SBU) Sources close to the President have confirmed that this 
re-shuffle is a reaction to Koupaki's apparent failure to adequately 
supervise the privatization of SONAPRA, Benin's cotton parastatal. 
The privatization of cotton, which was marked by several 
irregularities, fell apart completely last week and the bidding 
process will have to be repeated. 
 
¶3. Koupaki has lost some of his previous power and a large part of 
his Ministry, which had recently been created by subdividing the 
large Ministry of Finance.  In his portfolio as Minister of State, 
Koupaki had broad control over most economic policy and much of the 
Ministry of Finance.  After the realignment he will retain only his 
responsibilities in the arena of economic development and planning. 
In this role he will continue to supervise all development 
assistance including MCC and USAID. 
 
¶4.  In the organization of his part of the subdivided Ministry of 
Finance, Koupaki has been doing battle against the unions 
representing Finance Ministry workers, to eliminate the practice of 
special bonuses, known in French as "primes", paid to Finance 
Ministry workers, in addition to their salaries, to complete tasks 
which are part of their jobs.  Koupaki was known in the past to be 
close to the President but has recently come under criticism by 
European diplomats for a management style which some describe as 
peremptory and aloof. In point of fact, Koupaki's direct, 
professional, no nonsense management style contributes in long part 
to donor confidence in the GOB's economic reform program. 
 
¶5.  Another casualty in the Ministry of Finance is the Minister 
Delegate for the Budget Segbegnon Houngbo, who was relieved of his 
position in the Finance Ministry after he made public the GOB's 
failure to spend approximately 65% of the money budgeted for 2007 
(seven weeks before the end of Benin's fiscal year).  For example, 
in the education sector, the GOB will only spend 50% of the money it 
has budgeted.  This is an embarrassment for the President who has 
made one of his chief priorities the provision of free elementary 
education and an increase in the numbers of school's and teachers. 
 
 
¶6. President Yayi detached the literacy and national languages 
component of the Ministry of Primary Education, Literacy and 
National Languages and assigned it to Roger Gbegnonvi who becomes 
the new Minister of Literacy and the Promotion of National 
Languages.  Gbegnonvi is a well known and active member of Benin's 
civil society. 
 
¶7. BIOGRAPHIC NOTE: Mr Roger Gbegnonvi currently serves as a 
literature and linguistics professor at the University of Abomey 
Calavi. He holds a doctorate from Germany. He served for ten years 
as the country representative of the German political foundation 
Friedrich Nauman (associated with Germany's liberal Free Democratic 
Party). When the foundation closed his office, he engaged in 
extensive civil society activities, criticizing fiercely the former 
Kerekou's regime. Prior to the March 2006 presidential election, he 
fiercely opposed the proposed constitutional revision which 
threatened to extend former President Kerekou's mandate.  He is 
known as a champion of good governance and anti-corruption efforts. 
Though Mr. Gbegnonvi is an influential member of the civil society, 
he is often seen on the periphery of the Republican Front for a 
Democratic Change (FRAP) which is a political party associated with 
Chantal Yayi, Benin's First Lady. Mr. Gbegnonvi is 61 years old. He 
is married to a German citizen who works for the German Embassy in 
Cotonou. They have 3 children. END BIOGRAPHIC NOTE 
 
8.(SBU) Comment.  Koupaki's demission is a clear response to the 
failure of the GOB's efforts to privatize the cotton parastatal 
SONAPRA.  Whether or not Koupaki is solely responsible the failure 
is debatable, but he has taken the public fall. Beyond this clearly 
public reason some critics of the Government have also attributed 
Koupaki's loss of executive power in the Ministry of Finance to 
President Yayi's supporters in northern Benin who fear a Koupaki run 
 
COTONOU 00000871  002 OF 002 
 
 
in the 2011 presidential race.  However, there is no indication of 
political ambitions from Koukpaki himself, a visionary manager and 
technocrat par excellence. Houngbo's loss of work is less 
disconcerting as the major donors have identified the GOB's lack of 
absorptive capacity as a major impediment to development in Benin. 
End Comment. 
 
BROWN