 Just a few weeks ago, we were talking about a constitutional coup in Senegal, where the former president Macky Saul decided to postpone the election, which was to occur in February to December 2024. According to the former president, he wanted to investigate and settle the dispute regarding the candidates, but that was a farce. Either he wanted time so that he could contest again, or he needed time to ensure that the candidate from his political party, Ahmed Ubaa, won the election. Unfortunately for him, his plan did not work out, as it was met with resistance from the people and regional bodies. Eventually, the election was rescheduled, and to the surprise of all, the opposition party candidate Bassarro Diomai Faye, won the election. And today we are celebrating the youngest elected president in the world, President Faye, who is ready to do great things. However, it seems like the military coups which started in Mali and spread to the other countries in the Sahel, attempts at constitutional coups have begun to spread. Today, like Senegal, Togo, a Francophone country, is on the verge of a constitutional coup carried out by the current administration. Similar to what happened in Senegal, the current administration headed by President Fahor Agnasinghvi announced a constitutional reform ahead of the elections. The constitutional reforms which were approved with 89 votes in favor, one against, and one abstention would see Togo move from a presidential system to a parliamentary system of government, essentially ushering in the country's fifth republic. What this means is that the constitution would no longer grant power to the people to choose the next president of the country. Instead, power would reside with the parliament which would choose the next president, essentially no more direct voting in Togo. The constitutional reform essentially restricted the power of the president who would be directly appointed by parliament for a single six-year term. This means whoever is elected as president would have to rule just once for six years and he can never contest again. This seems like a good deal, but under this system, the executive power would rest on the prime minister who would be the president of the council of ministers. This means that the presidency would be reduced to a ceremonial role. Whoever holds this new prime ministerial position would run for a six-year term and he would be the leader of the party or the leader of the majority coalition of parties following the legislative elections. Since it was announced the reforms have been met with opposition from the citizens of Senegal and the opposition parties who called it a constitutional coup. There have been protests and unrest which was further aggravated after the proposed legislative and parliamentary elections were postponed originally scheduled for April 20, 2024. In a bid to calm the situation, the president sent the reforms for a second reading and rescheduled the proposed election to April 25, 2024. The reason why the people are angry is because the constitutional reform if passed has a great implication for Togo. Togo is a small country with about 9 million people that has been ruled by a single family for the past 57 years. It started with Nassimbe Ayedema who organized a coup in 1963 where it's reported that he assassinated Sylvanus Olympio, the first president of Togo with his own hands. Four years later in 1967 Ayedema organized another coup together with the help of France which installed him as president of the country. With the help of France Ayedema who is said to be a personal friend of French president Jacques Chirac went on to rule Togo for the next 37 years until he died in 2005. It's very certain that if he had not died he would have continued to rule Togo till today. As president Ayedema was a dictator who ruled using oppression, violence and manipulation. But did you ever hear France call him a dictator? Of course not. Instead they called him an ally how hypocritical of France. After his death the military swiftly installed his 38 year old son Fauré Nassimbe as president of the country similar to what happened in Chad. This action was declared unconstitutional and the pressure made him temporarily resigned. However in the same year standing with his union for the republic party Fauré won the elections to become the president of Togo. However it was widely noted that the election was fraudulent and his victory led to serious unrest which resulted in the deaths of over 500 citizens by security forces. After serving for two terms the streets of Togo erupted in protest and demonstrations in 2017 and 2018 calling for the president to step down. These protests were met with violent crackdowns including an internet shutdown by the government resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests. The crackdown on the protests ensured that president Fauré survived and in May 2019 his government voted for a change to Togo's constitution potentially enabling him to remain in office until 2030. President Fauré is obviously following in the footsteps of his father who reportedly told him never to leave power. Political opponents believe that the new constitutional reform is the president's latest amendment to the constitution designed to keep him in charge even when the presidential term limits end. According to Brigitte Ajamagbo-Johnson of the Opposition Democratic Convention of the African people the move towards a parliamentary system is a way for Nasingbe to avoid facing voters at the polls. This is being done to avoid direct voting for the president because the person holding power knows very well that it will be difficult to continue to cheat and tamper with presidential elections she added. It is believed that if the reforms are passed not only is it very likely that the president would be reappointed as president until 2031 but he could also step down from the job and switch to the new role of president of the council of ministers thereby ensuring that power remains in the hands of the Nasingbe family. This is because the new constitution does not take into account the time already spent in power. The question now is will the constitutional change go through? Opposition groups and civil society have been agitating and calling for the reforms to be ditched but given that the first hearing was approved by 89 lawmakers with only one against and one abstention it is clear that the opposition is weak and divided and may not be able to do much however the calls and demands have been ongoing. Josu who is running as a DMP candidate in the parliamentary elections in the gulfa constituency in loam believes Nasingbe planned to rush through the reforms before the elections to sidestep the potential later risk of parliamentary opposition. It's an organized scam people have been swindled by those in power for years he said. A group representing togo's catholic bishops stated that members of parliament had no right to pass a new constitution because the parliament's mandate had ended in december prior to the elections they encouraged nasingbe to postpone signing the new constitution meanwhile about 100 academics artists politicians and activists have signed an open letter that was published online and calls on people to protest and reject what they called a violation of the constitution they have gone too far said the letter how can we flout all the pillars of democracy unashamedly touching the fundamental text of a country with no broad political and social consensus while calling ourselves democratic protests and news conferences have also been planned in a bid to compel the president to ditch the reforms however recently the president placed a ban on the three-day protest over the arrest of opposition figures and new legislation scrapping presidential elections the government called it illegal saying that it would disturb public order right now there are tensions everywhere from the people opposition parties civil society and the government the question is what will happen next will the people now or the government time will tell what are your thoughts let us know in the comment section don't forget to like subscribe and share this video