Benin president sacks government

Googel – AFP, 9 Aug 2013

Thomas Yayi Boni talks to the press in Brussels on May 15, 2013

(AFP/File, Georges Gobet)

COTONOU — Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi has sacked his entire cabinet and will appoint a new one, his office said Friday.

The president will announce the new line-up "shortly", said a statement, without giving a reason for the move.

One presidential adviser said on condition of anonymity there were doubts about the loyalty of some ministers after a prominent businessman was charged with masterminding a plot to poison Yayi.

"It is a clean sweep and few ministers from the sacked government will be reappointed," the adviser said.

The businessman, Patrice Talon, is accused of plotting to poison the president with the help of Yayi's niece, his doctor and an ex-minister.

Talon is currently in France, where a court is considering whether he should be extradited back home.

The plot allegations have caused a political storm in the country of nine million people since they were made public in October.

Some see the accusations as a pretext for Yayi to rid himself of political enemies, while others argue Talon was seeking revenge against a leader clamping down on corruption.

Yayi is seeking to amend the west African nation's constitution to make it illegal for those convicted of economic crimes to be elected to public office.

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