Tgo: Of Witchcraft, Protests And Whats App: How African Leaders Stay In Power So Long

TOGO

Of Witchcraft, Protests and WhatsApp

The killing of a cow in Kparatao, Togo, explains a lot about the unstable situation in this tiniest of West African countries.

Troops loyal to embattled President Faure Gnassingbé were sweeping the village for weapons recently when they shot the animal, the Guardian newspaper of Nigeria reported.

Authorities said the cow was threatening the police. But in truth they likely killed the animal because they believed opposition leader Tikpi Atchadam, who grew up in Kparatao, was somehow using it as a familiar – an animal-shaped spirit that assists in witchcraft.

“Animist beliefs are still very common in Togo,” said Comi Toulabor, a researcher at the Institute of Political Studies of Bordeaux in France. “The military wanted to symbolically kill Tikpi Atchadam.”

The cow’s shooting is among several developments that have galvanized opponents of Gnassingbé.

Protesters in recent days have called for term limits for the president, whose family has ruled Togo for 50 years, the longest of any African family. Gnassingbé took over after his father Eyadéma died in office in 2005. Eyadéma abolished term limits from Togo’s constitution in 2002.

Sound familiar?

Throughout Africa, strongmen and their dynasties often stay in office far longer than the letter of the law would allow. Think Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda for some recent examples.

Now that Gambian President Yahya Jammeh was forced to quit after losing his reelection earlier this year, following a campaign where protesters also called for change, Togo is the only country on the continent without a constitutional term limit. However, Uganda’s parliament is preparing to vote on a bill to remove an age-limit clause from its constitution – a move that would allow 73-year-old President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for three decades, to run for re-election in 2021.

In Togo, the president has responded to the civil unrest by shutting down the internet, with the effect of pouring cold water on his constituents’ sex lives. The Guardian of Britain reported that Togolese use WhatsApp as a dating tool for a culture where “casual sex is commonplace.”

The shutdown has more short-term serious consequences, too, as folks depending on Western Union and MoneyGram remittances from abroad suddenly had their income cut off.

Things might change.

Gnassingbé’s ruling Union for the Republic party has proposed legislation that would impose a 10-year term limit. The president has called for a nationwide referendum on the question this month.

The yes camp is almost sure to win, though the vote has yet to be scheduled. But the opposition rejects the premise of the referendum because they want the term limits to be retroactive.

With an entrenched political machine and the support of the military, Gnassingbé would likely win presidential elections in 2020 and 2025, setting the stage for him to remain in power until 2030.

This change, if one can call it that, might be the best the Togolese people can expect for now.