“The Senate of Benin is more dangerous than the PRPB,” Nathaniel Kitti

True to his intellectual and critical stance on the constitutional revision of 2025, the legal expert analyzes the setup of the new institution, which he describes as a major threat to the balance of power and democracy in Benin.

​A concentration of powers deemed dangerous

​Drawing on the fundamental principles of the separation of powers theorized by Montesquieu, the academic argues that the Senate in Benin accumulates executive, legislative, and judicial prerogatives. According to him, this structure transforms the state apparatus into a “police state” serving particular interests, surpassing what he terms the institutional rigidity known during the era of the PRPB.

He notably believes that the presidential function is weakened, relegated to a role of financial execution under the supervision of the Senate president.

​Critique of the political class and a call for responsibility

​The lawyer laments the participation of actors from the democratic history of 1990 and opposition leaders within this new body. Describing this system as “crisis-inducing,” Nathaniel Kitti refers to doctrines on popular legitimacy in the face of abuses of power, citing John Locke and various historical movements.

He concludes his op-ed under the banner of “Unsubmissive Benin,” calling for a collective awareness regarding the rollback of fundamental freedoms.

The full op-ed

What is there to say about the election of the Senate office?

(Professor Nathaniel KITTI)

My position on the Senate, publicly expressed since the announcement of the constitutional revision law in 2025, has not changed. I am not an organic intellectual. Political positions do not determine my thinking. Science does not lie when the methodology is rigorously followed. Montesquieu warned against the concentration of powers in the hands of a single man or a single institution. This is the foundation of the separation of powers. The Senate concentrates all three powers in Benin. It is both executive, legislative, and judicial. It is dangerous for the country but also for our rights. It is more dangerous than the Popular Revolution Party of Benin (PRPB). By ordinances, our rights will be stripped away by the Senate. Benin has become a police state, a Talon Inc.

I am amazed that those who helped me get started at the university, the fighters against the PRPB, the actors of democratic renewal, etc., decide to sit there. They think they can change the course of history. They will not succeed. The context is not the same. Some of them sit there with a heavy heart. The Senate is not designed in the interest of the general public. It is designed for the benefit of its creator, who presides over it. President Patrice Talon has developed a voracity for power and finances that does not allow him to leave without being pursued by justice. That’s why he has done everything to exclude the opposition from elections and deliberative bodies and to establish a monopolistic monster that he controls. Some opposition leaders and elected officials have helped him achieve his goal. They will carry that on their conscience for the rest of their lives. Their rights will be stripped away by the institution they have created. Only the separation of powers with independent institutions can stop tyranny.

The former and current president Patrice Talon is steeped in a blatant conflict of interest with the State since 2016. His family and associates hold the Beninese economy and control state enterprises through Benin control and front companies. All those who sit in the Senate are accomplices by aid and assistance in perpetuating a system that has objectified Beninese people since 2016. The elected president of the Republic is stripped of his powers.
Power is no longer at the presidency of the Republic. It is at the Senate. Its president is a president by scissiparity. The president of the Republic is just a super Minister of Finance. He is an accounting president or a salaried president of the Senate president. His holder has always settled for this role in the shadow of his chief.

This system is crisis-inducing. It must be denounced. None of those who sit in the Senate can contain the dominating momentum of its president. He is assisted in the office by those who have contributed to wrecking the democratic framework of Benin since 2016. They will answer sooner or later before the tribunal of history for their complicity in the destruction of the democratic model of the country envisioned and instituted by the people in the referendum of December 2, 1990. According to John Locke, if political power abuses its force, the people hold the legitimate right to overthrow it. 1789 in France, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Arab Spring, 2014 in Burkina Faso, etc. are still vivid in memories. No tyrant will escape it.

Unsubmissive Benin is my slogan.

Professor KITTI Hinnougnon Nathaniel,
Vice-president of the Les Démocrates Party.
Lawyer at the Paris bar.
President of the coalition for good governance in Africa.