The door reopens

One day, Georges-Emmanuel Germany discovered that Aimé Césaire was his grandmother's first cousin. When the two met, Germany asked which direction to take in life. Césaire's reply set everything that followed in motion:

Germany pushed back – there are 54 countries on the continent, where does he start? Césaire told him to start with Haiti, since that was where Césaire himself had found the deepest roots of his own Martinican identity.

But it was in Benin that the thread connected. In Allada, Germany learned the town was said to be the ancestral home of Toussaint Louverture's family – the same Toussaint Louverture who led Haiti's liberation!

A local dignitary told Germany he carried royal blood. A fâ divination confirmed it. Face to face with the King of Allada, he heard the words that made it real:

On August 20th, 2016, the King of Allada crowned him prince, with the title Dah Milèko.

Offered informal documents on the side, Germany refused. He wanted something bigger than a personal fix – a law recognizing a right of return for everyone, not just himself – and not conditioned on years of residency first, the way Ghana's version worked after Afro-diasporans advocated for a similar program there. Germany wanted recognition to be immediate.

For years, he could get ministers to listen but never five minutes with President Talon. Until finally one day an opportunity in disguise presented itself: a béké (colonizer) named Bernard Hayot, who Germany describes as "the owner of the island and everyone who lives there," invited Talon to Martinique to inaugurate a Beninese art exhibition. The invitation caused real outrage – Martinique's territorial council president publicly refused to attend, saying it "deeply offends my political and moral conscience," and the local prefecture banned public gatherings ahead of the opening after online calls to protest.

Germany was part of a delegation of protesters who met with a minister from Benin to advise how best to handle the situation. Thanks to this delegation, the trip was a success, and Germany took advantage of a moment with the president of Benin to make an impression:

Then came the practical question, and when asked what was in it for Benin, Germany pointed to the diaspora's reach and influence worldwide. They negotiated the shape of the law on the spot: proof of Afro-descent, not proof of Beninese origin specifically; full citizenship after a period of years, but immediate Right of Abode from the moment the provisional Certificate of Eligibility is received. Once the bill reached parliament, Germany worked to line up support to ensure it passed unanimously, which it did.

Two weeks after the government's decision, Talon was in Brasília for a state visit – since Brazil is home to more Afro-descendants than any other country outside Africa, Talon announced the new law at a joint press conference with President Lula:

Patrice Talon led Benin as president from April 2016 to May 2026. Before taking office, he built his career in the cotton industry through the 1980s and 1990s and spent years as an influential political financier, before winning the presidency with 65% of the vote in the second round.

He came to power promising a different kind of governance: leaner, more technocratic, less corrupt. His first act was to try to limit himself to a single five-year term – an unusual move in a region where leaders tend to extend their mandates, not shorten them. The constitutional reform failed to pass parliament, but it set the tone for a presidency that consistently defied easy categorization.

What changed

The economic record is substantial. GDP growth rose from 3.3% in 2016 to 7.5% in 2024 – the highest rate since 1990 – and was projected at 7% for 2026. The Human Development Index rose from 0.351 in 1990 to 0.515 in 2023. The government's two flagship reform programmes (PAG 2016–2021 and PAG 2021–2026) together committed more than 9,000 billion CFA francs – roughly $16 billion – to infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and digital services. Corruption perceptions improved: Benin moved from 95th out of 176 countries in 2016 to 70th out of 180 in 2023 on Transparency International's index. Social spending rose from 32.6% to 43.8% of the budget between 2018 and 2022.

Talon was deliberate about utilities reaching the whole country, not just cities. Electricity access expanded – urban coverage reached 69%, rural coverage 36% by 2026, with a target of full national coverage by 2030. The approach came with a trade-off he explained directly to citizens, in an exchange with the youth in July 2025: utilities were kept a bit more expensive, so the revenue could fund expansion to new areas. "We can't say we're happy to be independent and still keep holding out our hand to those we chased out," he said – a philosophy that drew both admiration and criticism. Road infrastructure expanded significantly. Free schooling for girls was extended to the end of lower secondary education, rolled out nationally from October 2024. A plan for 60 vocational schools – for agriculture, mechanics, plumbing, electricity, and internet – was financed and ready to build by the end of his term, with construction to begin within months of his departure.

The Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ), launched in 2021 on 1,640 hectares near Cotonou, processes cotton, cashew, soy, shea, and pineapple locally rather than exporting raw materials. Tourism became a deliberate pillar. The Amazon Statue – a 30-metre monument to the Dahomey women warriors – was inaugurated in Cotonou in 2022. Sacred artworks looted by French colonial forces were formally returned in November 2021, and went on public exhibition in Cotonou that February. Annual Vodun Days festivals positioned Ouidah and Benin as a global cultural destination. During his visit to Martinique, President Talon even invited the Beninese diaspora to a discussion where they could share their thoughts about the ongoing changes. And in 2024, the law on Citizenship by Recognition for Afro-descendants was passed unanimously!

Many Beninese clearly admire him. He had an unusual style for a head of state – sitting at the same level as citizens in public forums, asking questions before educating, inviting young people to meet regularly at the Hall of the People for mentorship and dialogue. "It's never too late to do right," he said at one such meeting. A 2024 Afrobarometer survey found 60% of Beninese citizens considered their country democratic, and 77% said they preferred democracy over any other political system.

The Flip Side

The democratic picture is more contested. "We chose a political order similar to the colonizer's – democracy – to satisfy our quest, our need for freedom, for development," he said in that same exchange. Benin had been one of West Africa's most celebrated democracies – the country that in 1991 achieved the first peaceful transfer of power from a dictator to an elected president in sub-Saharan Africa. That reputation frayed significantly under Talon.

Electoral reforms in 2019 required parties to clear a 10% national vote threshold to win seats in parliament, effectively sidelining the opposition: that year's elections saw voter turnout collapse to 25%. In 2021, some opposition candidates were barred from running through what critics called politically motivated criminal charges. Freedom House downgraded Benin from "Free" to "Partly Free." In January 2026, legislative elections saw the opposition fail to reach the 10% threshold again – all 109 parliamentary seats went to government-supporting parties. The Constitutional Court – nominally independent – came to be headed by Talon's former personal lawyer.

In December 2025, Talon extended presidential terms from five to seven years through a constitutional reform and created a Senate – on which he is expected to remain as a member after leaving the presidency. A coup attempt the same month was suppressed. His presidency ended on May 24, 2026, when he handed power to Romuald Wadagni – his own former finance minister and the architect of much of the economic programme – who won with 94% of the vote.

Talon leaned toward deregulating, instead of expanding worker protections, saying a freer labor market creates more jobs than a heavily regulated one – with the United States cited as a model pairing low regulation with low unemployment: "I'd rather deregulate employment to create jobs than regulate it and create none at all," as he put it in a July 2025 exchange with the youth. The approach drew support from those who point to strong job growth during his tenure and criticism from those concerned it left workers with fewer protections.