Togo Leader Tightens Grip on Power, Sparks Outcry

Togo’s opposition parties and civil society blasted the appointment of President Faure Gnassingbé to a powerful new executive body this month as a “constitutional coup” intended to allow the longtime leader to stay in power indefinitely, the Associated Press reported. 

Earlier this month, parliament appointed Gnassingbé president of the Council of Ministers, a role that grants him more power and is not subject to term limits. 

The position allows Gnassingbé to coordinate government action, establish broad guidelines for policy, and ensure the implementation of the council’s decisions, Reuters wrote. 

But a coalition of political parties decried the move as “neither legal nor legitimate,” warning that it could lead to further democratic backsliding in the West African country. 

They added that the appointment marked “a new phase in the seizure of power,” one that consolidates the rule of Gnassingbé, who has been in power since 2005 following the death of his father. 

On Sunday, hundreds protested in the capital against the move, vowing to step up domestic and international pressure against the longtime leader. 

Gnassingbé’s appointment follows last year’s constitutional reforms, which eliminated presidential elections and allowed parliament to choose the president.  

Meanwhile, the new constitution downgraded the position of president to a ceremonial one. Following Gnassingbé’s appointment to head the Council of Ministers, lawmakers selected Jean-Lucien Kwassi Savi de Tove to the now less-powerful position of national president. 

Although officials did not comment on the appointment, government media outlets hailed the reforms as a modernizing step that prepares Togo for a parliamentary government. 

Togo, a phosphate-producing country of around 8 million people, has been ruled by the same family since 1967, when Gnassingbé’s father, Eyadema Gnassingbé, seized power in a coup.