President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo – a West African country bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north [Just For Clarifications]: a successor to his family’s 50 years ruling dynasty since the death of his father in 2005 has still not deemed it fit to walk away from the ‘title’ neither has he realized that the country isn’t an inheritance.
The political climate was the push to why hundreds of thousands of Togolese citizens, young and old, with pains and a break from threshold took to the streets as rigid as they could to protest the dictatorship of one family.
Since Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh was forced out after losing an election last December, all West African countries except Togo have accepted two-term limits on presidential office; bucking a regressive trend across Africa to remove them and re-enable “presidents for life”.
As a push made against attempts by oppositions, Gnassingbe has offered his own amendment in response, which would limit presidential terms to a maximum of two, however, his draft has been rejected as most believe that it would apply retroactively, allowing Gnassingbe to remain in office till 2030.
The People in Togo aren’t just asking President Faure to leave, they’re begging for a constitutional reform, they’re asking that their nation that has been left to rabble and wander in it’s own drunkenness be called to action and begin to tackle challenges confronting the everyday man, but the Police have responded with tear gas.
Togolese Activist – Farida Nabourema shared videos and images from the protests via her Twitter page.
“The millions of Togolese that took the streets to say enough of 50 years of the Gnassingbe’s dictatorship are just tired of the abuse in Togo”
In what appears to be an attempt by the government to silence critics, the internet and SMS texting across the country was blocked but the opposition say they will continue until Gnassingbe steps down.
“The president’s position is very fragile, and we do not think his peers in ECOWAS or his friends in Europe will help him if things get ugly,” Francois Conradie, head of research at NKC African Economics, told Al Jazeera.
Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Gnassingbe to step down “unless he has something new” for his people.
The UN also called out the government to respond to protesters “expectations” stating that the country must go the way of other West African nations and swiftly limit presidential terms to two if it wants to prevent protests escalating into a political crisis.
U.N. Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel Mohamed Ibn Chambas said in an interview with Reuters Africa:
“Our main perspective is to advise the Togolese to take those actions to prevent an escalation, We are in a region where the security challenges are real and menacing and so we don’t want to see any deep political crisis.”
He said a move by Gnassingbe’s government this week to propose a draft bill to reform the constitution and reintroduce a two-term limit was welcome despite claims from the opposition that it would enable him to stay in power until 2030.
Chambas also talked about waiting to see the formulation of the new constitutional draft. Even though officials in Gnassingbe’s cabinet did not immediately respond to a request for comment, he said he had received assurances during his meeting with the president on Friday that he had “heard the people”.
