COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS SENDS A SALUTE TO PRESIDENT YAYI BONI
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN
Yayi Boni has been the President of Benin since 6 April 2006.
Running as an independent candidate supported by a coalition of both, political movements and small parties, his landslide victory shows the extent to which the “system Kérékou” under the rule of his predecessor had become unpopular.
During his campaign, he pledged to enhance governance, the development of the private sector, the education of women and the renovation of the agricultural system.
Yayi Boni holds a PhD in Economics and is a graduate of the University of Paris IX Dauphine. From 1991 to 1996, under Nicephore Soglo’s presidency, he has been technical adviser for monetary and banking affairs.
In 1994, he was elected president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) from which he resigned in 2005 in order to run for the presidency.
During his tenure at the BOAD, he supervised the in-depth reorganisation of directions and services of the Bank so as to enhance their efficiency in the fight against poverty. Thanks to the arrival of new stakeholders, the capital of the Bank increased from 140 billion francs CFA (1994) to 700 billion (2005) francs CFA.
Moreover, to his credit, Yayi Boni managed to negotiate a deal with other financial partners such as the World Bank, the French Development Agency or the Canadian International Development Agency to finance a 200-billion project aimed at strengthening the regional financial market.
Born in 1952 in Tchaourou, in the north of the country, Mr. Yayi Boni is married and father of five children.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS SALUTES MATHIEU KEREKOU & THE RECONCILIATION & DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
President Kerekou had invited the kings of Benin since many of their ancestors had sold Africans to Europeans. He declared: 'This conference is a spiritual conference. Listen to what your conscience will dictate to you.... The mission has been accomplished.... The forgiveness has been accepted and reconciliation made possible.'
The delegates were taken to the city of Ouidah and to the sandy shores across which Africans walked to board the ships which would separate them forever from their homeland. There, near 'The Gate of No Return', participants sang songs of faith and heard from British and American clergy.
I had noticed that, throughout the conference, only one woman had been allowed to speak. Here in the shadow of this infamous gate African men desired to kneel and offer their apologies to African Americans whose ancestors had been sold into slavery. As a cleric and a woman I noticed that there were no African women who had shared in the apology here or at the conference centre.
Each human being needs to apologize for his or her own sins. The men couldn't apologize for the women nor vice versa. I moved to the microphone and called for an African woman to come and take her place with African men in offering the apology as I had taken my place with African American men to receive the apology. For women were not innocent bystanders during the slave trade.
(The following day this was confirmed. My African guide shared the story of how the King of Abomey wondered why the King of Ouidah was getting so rich. He sent his daughter to marry into the family and 'spy out the source of his wealth' and report back to him. He then captured the King of Ouidah and took over his lucrative slave trade venture.)
I explained that in Europe and in America women shared in the horrors and the enjoyment of the wealth gained from having sold human beings into slavery. They were co-conspirators -- as Africans, as Europeans, as Americans; and, therefore, should not be left out of the process of forgiveness that leads to racial healing.
After I said this, a young African woman immediately moved from her seat, walked down the aisle and fell into my arms sobbing. As her African American sister, I needed to hear her say, 'Sorry!' We both wept deeply. The act of forgiveness was now complete: male and female.
There were fervent words of repentance steeped in agonizing cries and pleas for us to forgive. Few acts of forgiveness have ushered in more joy. There was something so right in the centre of my soul: full confirmation that God was in this process. Shouts of hallelujah concluded our time together. Reconciliation had begun.
A WITNESS
Yayi Boni has been the President of Benin since 6 April 2006.
Running as an independent candidate supported by a coalition of both, political movements and small parties, his landslide victory shows the extent to which the “system Kérékou” under the rule of his predecessor had become unpopular.
During his campaign, he pledged to enhance governance, the development of the private sector, the education of women and the renovation of the agricultural system.
Yayi Boni holds a PhD in Economics and is a graduate of the University of Paris IX Dauphine. From 1991 to 1996, under Nicephore Soglo’s presidency, he has been technical adviser for monetary and banking affairs.
In 1994, he was elected president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) from which he resigned in 2005 in order to run for the presidency.
During his tenure at the BOAD, he supervised the in-depth reorganisation of directions and services of the Bank so as to enhance their efficiency in the fight against poverty. Thanks to the arrival of new stakeholders, the capital of the Bank increased from 140 billion francs CFA (1994) to 700 billion (2005) francs CFA.
Moreover, to his credit, Yayi Boni managed to negotiate a deal with other financial partners such as the World Bank, the French Development Agency or the Canadian International Development Agency to finance a 200-billion project aimed at strengthening the regional financial market.
Born in 1952 in Tchaourou, in the north of the country, Mr. Yayi Boni is married and father of five children.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS SALUTES MATHIEU KEREKOU & THE RECONCILIATION & DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
President Kerekou had invited the kings of Benin since many of their ancestors had sold Africans to Europeans. He declared: 'This conference is a spiritual conference. Listen to what your conscience will dictate to you.... The mission has been accomplished.... The forgiveness has been accepted and reconciliation made possible.'
The delegates were taken to the city of Ouidah and to the sandy shores across which Africans walked to board the ships which would separate them forever from their homeland. There, near 'The Gate of No Return', participants sang songs of faith and heard from British and American clergy.
I had noticed that, throughout the conference, only one woman had been allowed to speak. Here in the shadow of this infamous gate African men desired to kneel and offer their apologies to African Americans whose ancestors had been sold into slavery. As a cleric and a woman I noticed that there were no African women who had shared in the apology here or at the conference centre.
Each human being needs to apologize for his or her own sins. The men couldn't apologize for the women nor vice versa. I moved to the microphone and called for an African woman to come and take her place with African men in offering the apology as I had taken my place with African American men to receive the apology. For women were not innocent bystanders during the slave trade.
(The following day this was confirmed. My African guide shared the story of how the King of Abomey wondered why the King of Ouidah was getting so rich. He sent his daughter to marry into the family and 'spy out the source of his wealth' and report back to him. He then captured the King of Ouidah and took over his lucrative slave trade venture.)
I explained that in Europe and in America women shared in the horrors and the enjoyment of the wealth gained from having sold human beings into slavery. They were co-conspirators -- as Africans, as Europeans, as Americans; and, therefore, should not be left out of the process of forgiveness that leads to racial healing.
After I said this, a young African woman immediately moved from her seat, walked down the aisle and fell into my arms sobbing. As her African American sister, I needed to hear her say, 'Sorry!' We both wept deeply. The act of forgiveness was now complete: male and female.
There were fervent words of repentance steeped in agonizing cries and pleas for us to forgive. Few acts of forgiveness have ushered in more joy. There was something so right in the centre of my soul: full confirmation that God was in this process. Shouts of hallelujah concluded our time together. Reconciliation had begun.
A WITNESS
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