Benin's GDP growth doubled from 3% to 6% annually over the past decade under President Patrice Talon, a pace that leads the region. A building boom reshaped Cotonou, a new coastal road cut travel times to Ouidah, and an industrial zone launched north-west of the economic capital. The country that once cheerfully called itself Nigeria's 37th state now insists on being seen in its own right. The cost ledger is stark. Talon, widely believed to be Benin's richest person, remade the political system around himself with a precision that would impress any corporate raider. Strict new election laws and heavy registration fees purged the opposition from parliament. The judiciary was co-opted to silence dissidents — judge Essowé Batamoussi fled to France in 2021, saying he received "an empty file and a threat" when ordered to jail opposition leader Reckya Madougou. A 2023 constitutional amendment extended the presidential term from five to seven years, created an appointed senate, and raised thresholds that locked opposition parties out of parliament entirely. The model is explicit: Paul Kagame's Rwanda. Talon allied with Kigali, appointed former Rwandan officials to run sensitive Beninese agencies, and adopted the same exchange — repression for development, silence for stability. The architect-financier who had previously bankrolled two predecessors' campaigns simply decided to run the operation himself. April's presidential election, in which Talon's hand-picked successor Romuald Wadagni won with more than 94% of the vote against a single approved opposition candidate, completed the institutional capture. Talon himself returned as president of the new senate in August. A December coup attempt by mutineers citing his authoritarianism was quelled with Nigerian help — the same neighbour whose shadow Talon had sought to escape. The distributional question is damning. The minimum monthly wage rose from 40,000 to 52,000 CFA francs (£52-£68) in January 2023, but rent and electricity tariffs climbed at least 15% and fuel prices nearly doubled. Most development concentrated in Cotonou and Talon's hometown of Ouidah. Amnesty International documented four projects that resulted in mass forced evictions affecting at least 6,000 people. Civil society groups flagged contracts awarded to entities linked to Talon's political allies and business network. Professor Guillaume Moumouni of the University of Abomey-Calavi described the approach as "carrot and stick" — constitutional change paired with development — but noted that over time there was "less carrot and more stick." Opposition vice-president Eugène Azatassou put it more bluntly: "Development cannot be limited to roads and buildings. It must also be measured by the quality of democracy, purchasing power, employment, security." The 20-year trajectory is visible from here. Talon has built the institutional architecture for indefinite oligarchic control dressed in GDP statistics. Wadagni's campaign vow to tackle extreme poverty is itself an admission that growth has not reached most Beninese. The question is not whether Benin has new roads. It is who owns the road, who decides where it goes, and what happens to you if you ask.
