Benin: Moudassirou Bachabi rejects the criticisms regarding the absence of a Ministry of Labor made by the Cstb.

In response to the concerns expressed by some organizations that view the absence of a ministry explicitly dedicated to “Work” as a marginalization of employees’ concerns, the Secretary General of the General Confederation of Workers of Benin (Cgtb), Moudassirou Bachabi, firmly spoke out to realign the debate.

For the union leader, these criticisms stem from a literal and erroneous interpretation of the institutional architecture of a state.

Moudassirou Bachabi argues that a government should not be seen as a mere juxtaposition of names or ministerial titles, but rather as a unified team equipped with a range of complementary and effective skills.

He recalls that national wealth, a pillar of the social model, directly depends on the good management of professional relations and the organization of the job market. According to him, attributing a lack of interest in the government solely on the pretext that no ministry carries the word “Work” in its official title reflects a particularly restrictive and superficial reading of republican realities.

The analysis of the decrees on the Attributions, Organization, and Functioning (AOF) of the various ministries will show, according to the Secretary General of the Cgtb, that the essential levers related to employment, the protection of workers, and the support for small and medium enterprises are indeed taken into account in a transverse manner.

The union leader also emphasizes that with a head of state who led the Ministry of Finance for a decade, the executive branch has a good grasp of the economic mechanisms necessary to support the private sector, the main contributor to the national budget. Moudassirou Bachabi therefore invites social partners to be patient while awaiting the imminent publication of the Government Action Program (PAG), affirming his belief that social dialogue and the valuation of work will remain at the center of the new transition’s priorities.