LOME, Togo: Political tensions escalated in West African country Togo on Wednesday as police broke up an opposition press conference amid a backlash against constitutional reforms criticized as a power grab.
The parliament of this West African country on Monday approved a new constitution that changes from a presidential system to a parliamentary system of government.
The president will be chosen “without debate” by lawmakers “for a single six-year term”, and not by the public, as per the new text.
A group of lawmakers mostly from the Union for the Republic (UNIR) ruling party proposed the change to the constitution, and was adopted almost unanimously.
The president can currently serve a maximum of two five-year terms.
With parliamentary elections less than a month away, opposition parties fear the move could pave the way for long-time president Faure Gnassingbe to stay in power indefinitely.
Around 30 gendarmes armed with clubs interrupted the conference, which had been called by opposition parties and civil society groups to address the change.
The officers said the event at the ADDI opposition party headquarters in the capital Lome did not have the necessary authorisation, according to media present at the scene.
Later, the head of the National Alliance for Change (ANC) opposition party Jean Pierre Fabre lashed out at the reform at another press conference.
“Enough is enough,” he said adding they were determined to take up the fight. “We are going to take the battle to them.”
spokesman for the FCTD civil society coalition, David Dosseh, called for “the population to mobilise to put an end to this travesty.”
“This is a battle that will last for months,” he warned, urging the world community and ECOWAS, the West African bloc, to “assume their responsibilities”.
NGOs regularly criticise the country for infringing human rights, and the opposition leadership counts around a hundred political prisoners.
Organiser and head of the Parti des Togolais (PT) Nathaniel Olympio termed it “unacceptable” as they viewed that the Togolese regime is allowing itself absolutely everything. “I call on the Togolese people to stand up and stop this disastrous plan,” he added.
