Benin: Former Mediator staff transferred to CES, assignments yet to be determined

Decision No. 2026/063/CES/PT/DC/SG/DPAF/SGC/SA, signed by the president of the CES, Abdoulaye Bio Tchané, states that all personnel from the former Mediator’s administration are now part of the Council’s staff. The document does not specify the number of agents involved and repeals any previous conflicting provisions.

Implementation continued on Friday, September 18, with a working session between the CES Secretary General, Aziz Armel Paraïso, and the administrative officials from the former Mediator’s office. The agents are to be distributed within the new organization of the Council, but their functional redeployment is not yet complete.

This personnel transfer is a result of the reform that integrated mediation functions into the Economic and Social Council. On June 24, the National Assembly adopted Law No. 2026-11, which amended the framework of the Mediator of the Republic and assigned the exercise of these functions to the first vice-president of the CES.

This framework was further supplemented by Organic Law No. 2026-13 of July 31, 2026, which modifies the organization of the Economic and Social Council. The Government Secretariat published this text on August 24. Three days later, the Constitutional Court issued Decision DCC26-007 regarding the compliance review of the CES’s new internal regulations.

For users, the mediation mission with the administration remains within the new institutional framework. During the meeting on September 18, CES officials indicated that the functions and resources previously associated with the former Mediator are now integrated into the Economic and Social Council.

The next step involves the concrete organization of the agents. The administrative regulations currently being prepared will specify the structure of services, the distribution of responsibilities, and the assignment modalities. According to the CES Secretary General, redeployments within the various services will occur after the finalization and validation of these regulations.