Michel Toko
{{short description|Beninese politician}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Michel Bamènou Toko
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| smallimage =
| smallimage_alt =
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| order =
| office = Minister of Justice
| term_start = 1970
| term_end = 1972
| office2 = Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs
| term_start2 = 31 May 1972
| term_end2 = 1972
| term_end3 =
| birth_date = 1926-1927
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and given age|2020|08|17|93|df=yes}}
}}
Michel Bamènou Toko was a Beninese politican who served as Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 1970s.
Biography
Born in 1926 or 1927 he was originally from Mono Department.{{Cite web |last=Ahéhéhinnou |first=F. Aubin |date=18 August 2020 |title=Un ancien ministre rappelé à Dieu |trans-title=A former minister called to God |url=https://www.24haubenin.info/?Un-ancien-ministre-rappele-a-Dieu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821164004/https://www.24haubenin.info/?Un-ancien-ministre-rappele-a-Dieu |archive-date=21 August 2020 |access-date=2025-07-13 |website=24 HEURES AU BENIN |language=fr}}
In the early 1960s Toko was active in the Congolese Youth Union (UJC) and the Confédération générale aéfienne du travail (CGAT) in Brazzaville and was subsequenly deported to Dahomey by French authorities as part of drives to suppress communist influence.{{cite book |last1=Bat |first1=Jean-Pierre |title=La Fabrique des « Barbouzes » - Histoire des réseaux Foccart en Afrique |date=2015 |publisher=Nouveau Monde|p=99 |location=Paris |isbn=9782369421764}}
In 1970 he was appointed Minister for Justice and on 31 May 1972 he was appointed Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs.{{cite web |title=DECRET No72-1 68 du 15 Juin 1972 |url=https://sgg.gouv.bj/doc/decret-1972-168/download |publisher=Secrétariat général du Gouvernement du Bénin |access-date=13 July 2025}} During the presidency of Mathieu Kérékou he was imprisoned along with many other former politicans.{{Cite web |last=Avèkes |first=Binason |date=2015-06-08 |title=IMMORTALISER MATHIEU KEREKOU, C‘EST UN CRIME CONTRE LE BENIN ! (N°2) |url=https://babilown.com/2015/06/08/immortaliser-mathieu-kerekou-cest-un-crime-contre-le-benin-n2/ |access-date=2025-07-13 |language=fr-FR}}
Following Benin's transition to multiparty democracy in 1990, Toko led the People's Republican Union.{{Cite book |last=Day |first=Alan John |url=http://archive.org/details/politicalparties0004daya |title=Political parties of the world |last2=German |first2=Richard |last3=Campbell |first3=John |date= |publisher=Stockton |others= |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-56159-144-2 |edition=2nd |location=New York, NY |pages=74 |via=Internet Archive}} The party contested the 1991 parliamentary election in coalition with the National Labour Party winning one seat and 2% of the vote.{{Cite book |last=Nohlen |first=Dieter |title=Elections in Africa: a data handbook |last2=Krennerich |first2=Michael |last3=Thibaut |first3=Bernhard |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford university press |isbn=978-0-19-829645-4 |location=New York (N.Y.) Oxford |pages=92}}
References
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