Beninese magistrates go on strike over "illegal recruitment"

Benin National Union of Magistrates (UNAMAB) has called for a three day strike starting Tuesday to Thursday, to force the government to immediately halt the "illegal" recruitment of 40 young magistrates as well as cancellation of all "illegal agreements" signed in this regard, a judicial source said Monday.

In a strike notice sent to the minister for justice and human rights, the magistrates complained that the said minister had, in violation of the law guiding the recruitment of judges, given the public service ministry authority to recruit 40 magistrates without involvement of UNAMAB.

"Before the year 2000, examinations for recruitment of magistrates was exclusively organized by the public service ministry. But from the year 2002, due to pressure from donors, the organization of the examination was jointly carried out by the ministries of public service, justice and higher education in the presence of UNAMAB," the strike notice recalled.

However, the statement lamented, the justice minister had planned to "secretly" revert the exercise of appointment of new magistrates to the public service ministry, excluding the magistrates' union.

"UNAMAB, in the spirit of ensuring transparency in the recruitment of new magistrates, had given the government until Sept. 7, 2015 to nullify all illegal actions that had been taken with regards to organization of the said examinations," the statement pointed out. Endit