In a letter dated June 16, 2025, addressed to the General Secretary of the Progressive Union the Renewal (UP-R), Gratien-Laurent Ahouanmenou responds to the request for clarification that was sent to him following his public statements.
He defends the legitimacy of his comments, while denouncing attempts to muzzle democratic debate within the party.
The former executive of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD) asserts that his statements have never been slanderous, defamatory, or inciting to violence. Instead, he accuses some leaders of the UP the Renewal of allowing, in a complicit silence, public speeches belittling the founders of the party, particularly President Adrien Houngbédji.
Faced with this situation, he believes he had no choice but to speak out to reestablish certain truths.
Concerning the merger between the PRD and the UP, Ahouanmenou maintains that the legal and statutory conditions for an effective dissolution of the PRD are not met. He refers to the absence of a special PRD congress formally endorsing the dissolution by a three-fourths majority, and reproaches the president of the UP the Renewal and the interior minister for neither completing nor checking the required formalities.
“I am not an employee of the UP the Renewal, I am only a volunteer,” he reminds, reaffirming his freedom of conscience and his right to express a critical opinion. Thus, he asserts his commitment to the PRD, claiming that it remains a “sensibility” within the UP-R, in accordance with the statutes of his former party and the Charter of political parties.
He concludes by underlining that he has no duty to cover for the mistakes of other members of the political bureau, and calls for respect of the law as the basis of healthy and responsible political debate.