Togo’s constitutional drift: power concentrated in Faure Gnassingbé’s hands
An institutional reshuffle that sidesteps democracy
The arrest of two French nationals in northern Togo has thrust the nation’s political crisis into the international spotlight. Charged this week after days in custody by intelligence services, their fate appears sealed by a directive from President Faure Gnassingbé himself. Sources indicate he personally instructed Justice Minister Pacôme Adjourouvi to “yield to no pressure,” a phrase that reveals the depths of executive overreach.
Yet this diplomatic incident is merely the visible symptom of a far more troubling phenomenon: the erosion of Togo’s democratic foundations. A critical question now looms over Lomé: who truly governs the country, and by what authority?
A constitutional facelift with troubling implications
Under the guise of institutional reform, Gnassingbé has engineered a legal framework where titles bear little relation to power. The 2024 constitutional amendments, railroaded through a parliament dominated by his Union for the Republic (UNIR) party, abolished the presidency in favor of a ceremonial head of state. Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové serves as a figurehead president, while the real executive authority rests with the newly created post of Council President occupied by Gnassingbé since May 3, 2025.
This arrangement eliminates term limits entirely. Whereas the 1992 Constitution capped presidential terms at two, the new system allows for indefinite rule. The leader of the majority party automatically becomes Council President, and with UNIR holding 108 of 113 seats a result achieved after opposition parties largely boycotted the 2024 elections the outcome was predetermined. This is not governance; it is dynastic perpetuation in constitutional disguise.
The judiciary as a political tool
The case of journalists Sébastien Perez Pezzani and Gaël Mocaër, detained while filming for a television program, is not an anomaly. It reflects a pattern where intelligence services and the Justice Ministry act on direct orders from the executive. The alleged instruction to “yield to no pressure” underscores a command chain that tramples judicial independence. When the head of government dictates legal outcomes, the separation of powers collapses into farce.
This pattern extends beyond isolated arrests. The handling of June 2025 protests, the targeting of dissenting voices, and the selective application of the law all reveal a justice system repurposed as a political instrument. Rights are enforced or suspended based on convenience, not principle.
A legitimacy crisis deepens
The central issue is one of authority and its origins. Gnassingbé, who first assumed power in 2005, has spent two decades consolidating control before redesigning institutions to retain it indefinitely. No referendum sanctioned the 2024 overhaul. Legislative elections were mired in boycotts and controversy. Even the Senate, with a third of its members appointed by the Council President, reinforces executive dominance.
This is not reform. It is the institutionalization of personal rule. Titles shift, procedures multiply, yet the locus of power remains unchanged: Faure Gnassingbé, as Council President, party leader, military commander, and final arbiter of national policy.
A powder keg of discontent
When law bows to arbitrary decree, when institutions become hollow shells, and when justice serves political ends, the social contract frays. Togo is no longer grappling with a contested constitutional transition it faces a regime that governs outside any stable, predictable republican framework.
The question is no longer merely “who rules?” but “how long can such a system endure before internal fractures or popular upheaval force its collapse?”
