News:
July 8, 2025
In wake of the rather high political temperature in the Republic of Togo with the youth demonstrating against the extended rule of the Gnassingbe dynasty and the resultant crackdown on protestors in recent times, Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah has expressed worry about the effects of the development on major installations of the sub-regional bloc that are in Lome -Togo.
Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, a member of Ghana’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament noted that ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is in Togo, whiles Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the Ecobank Group is also located in same Lome.
“So, if anything goes wrong there, by and large it will affect ECOWAS; the warning signals have always been there if you check the Hansard of ECOWAS Parliament, we mention that what is happening in Togo would not be in the best of Africa and the sub-regional bloc – changing the constitution in Togo would provoke this disaffection for the government in Togo, but they have gone ahead to do it and our colleagues in Togo at the Parliament said they do not see anything wrong with it”, he stated.
“We did our best to bring them up to speed to understand that the ECOWAS protocol on good governance and democracy needs to be upheld, but they do not see anything wrong with what is happening. Today the youth are demonstrating; they are up in arms and they want the family hegemony to be broken”.
He asserts that the Gnassingbe family has been there for years, stating that this is what happens to one party being in power for over thirty, forty years. “They should learn from Ghana where we have political parties and a president is allowed by the constitution to serve at most two consecutive terms (eight years) and hand over to another person under the fourth republican constitution”.
“Why can’t Togo learn to do same, what do you gain for being in power for all these year? Your father was in power and left; you have taken over – you have also been in power all these years, what are you going to add to what your father could not do?” He queried.
He further added that the Community Parliament is an avenue where they try as much as possible to bring to bear the happenings in the sub-region, “you recollect we talked about happenings within the sub-region; happenings in some member states – development in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger; we talked about it and it has come to pass”.
When we had the early warning signals, we put it out on the floor of the House and the ECOWAS Commission which is executive arm did not take it seriously; if we were taken seriously we would not be where we are today. And that has been a dent on us – three countries leaving the West African bloc and forming their own alliance, Mr Bedzrah added.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com