Every few years, the regime in Togo puts on a show — a new reform, a new election, a reshuffled cabinet.
To the international community, this signals progress. But for those of us on the ground.
For the real Togolese people — it is nothing more than political theater.
I am Komlan Eyram Mensah Dossou, a committed activist and member of the ANC, and I say this without hesitation:
Togo is not reforming. It is repackaging tyranny.
Let us examine the evidence:
- Electoral commissions are still appointed by those in power.
- Opposition voices are allowed only if they are quiet or compromised.
- The press is censored, journalists imprisoned, and internet cut during protests.
- Constitutional changes like the recent shift to a parliamentary system only consolidate Faure Gnassingbé’s rule.
True reform empowers the people. Cosmetic reform protects the regime.
We must stop applauding symbolic gestures. A dictatorship in a suit is still a dictatorship.
The international community must stop funding these illusions.
Togolese activists and citizens deserve real democratic transformation, not just rebranded repression.
If we do not call out these fake reforms, we become complicit in our own subjugation.
As long as we remain silent, the regime remains legitimate.
But I, and many like me, refuse silence. We choose to speak. Loudly. Truthfully. And fearlessly.
