Benin: Sports Minister returns his apron
The Minister for Sport, Oswald Homéky, tendered his resignation to the Head of State on Friday 6 October 2023. President Patrice Talon has accepted the resignation and has instructed the Minister of Energy, Water and Mines to take over. The handover will take place on Saturday. It should be noted that the former Minister for Sport, Oswald Homéky, took part in the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday 05 October 2023.
Even if nothing declared such a situation, everything seems to point to the minister’s recent public stance on the candidacy of the businessman and personal friend of Patrice Talon, Olivier Boko. Indeed, a few weeks ago, the Minister for Sport said the following about the businessman’s 2026 presidential bid: «Olivier Boko is the best prepared of all of us. If he decides to run in 2026, all other ambitions will have to go. In all sincerity, he is the one whose candidacy will easily bring together all the tendencies within the Movement and even outside it».
President Patrice Talon was reportedly very displeased by this solitary outburst, and strongly reprimanded his minister at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday 5 October. Oswald Homeky then chose to leave his post.
Those in the know knew that this statement by Benin’s Minister for Sport would not be without consequences. As a member of the political bureau of one of the presidential parties, the Union Progressiste le Renouveau (UPR), Oswald Homeky had no business taking a public stance when his party had not yet made up its mind on the subject.
What’s more, the party’s president, Professor Joseph Djogbénou, is one of the people tipped to carry the party’s colours into the 2026 elections.
On the question of whether or not he will run for the 2026 presidential election, Olivier Boko himself has not yet given his opinion. Of course, he has plenty of time to do that. There’s no rush. There was no rush from Oswald Homeky.
