Togo: Brigitte Adjamago and the DMP now condemned to succeed to justify the stabbing of Monsignor Kpodzro

2023-04-18 00:01:27

Brigitte Adjamagbo Johnson at the highlight of the C-14 | Photo: DR

«…To go in dispersed ranks in this climate of hatred and mistrust, as is the case today, is it not likely to have even more disastrous consequences for what remains of the opposition in the future? parliament?»

This is the question with which we ended our remarks last week to express our reservations about the possible participation of a divided opposition in the next legislative elections. The coordinator of the new Dynamic brought to the baptismal font on April 10 seems to have heard our call, which is also that of all Togolese in love with freedom. Indeed, Mrs. Brigitte Adjamago, first leader of the Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP), questioned on a local radio station, seems to have understood that for truly transparent and democratic elections, there is still a long way to go concerning the democratic nature of the institutions involved in the organization of the said elections. Yesterday the DMK. Today the DMP. How did we get here?

The Dynamic Monsignor Kpodzro (DMK), with its unrealistic, even utopian demands, relating to the recovery of the victory stolen in February 2020 from Agbéyomé Kodjo, became unbearable for the coordinator of the political organization set up precisely by Monsignor Kpodzro in the eve of the presidential election of 2020. Let us recognize that the euphoria of the beginning having been blunted, added to the unrealistic nature of the demands, weariness had ended up winning over everyone. Madame Adjamago and almost all those who made up the political organization were waiting for an opportunity to free themselves from the DMK and especially from what somewhat resembles being taken hostage by the prelate in exile.

Today we are faced with a fait accompli. Almost all the former members of the DMK left the boat with arms and baggage to create another political organization, the Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP), in order to participate in the next legislative elections announced by the government of Faure Gnassingbé. Was there consultation with the prelate before taking such a decision to leave his organization which is the DMK? In the interview last Saturday, Mrs. Adjamago, who is also the new coordinator of the DMP, could not clearly answer this question, and only regretted the fact that Monsignor Kpodzro had publicly given his point of view. on a possible participation in the elections, rather than internally. So it is needless to say that the method used by Madame Brigitte Adjamago and her friends to turn their backs on the prelate is brutal and disrespectful of his authority.

Now the wine is drawn, it must be drunk. We are in politics, especially in a country where democracy is only nominal. Today, in the current state of things, nobody has the magic wand within the Togolese opposition to make leave the oppressive power. Those who oppose participation in the elections have their arguments which we respect, but no more. This first category of opponents does not say what to do if we do not go to the elections. If they speak of a revolution, it does not happen overnight; it must be organized; and for that it would be necessary that the largest political parties of the opposition agree to come together. We are still far from it. For the participationists in the next legislative elections, as is the case with the DMP and probably the ANC, it would be a leap into the unpredictable and above all according to the rules of those they say they are fighting; because, participating in elections in Togo, whatever they are, has never been a calm river.

We are delighted that the coordinator of the DMP denounced, in the interview on local radio, the fact that the electoral census, the setting up of the CENI, the CELIs, and many other stages, relating to the organization of the elections, have already been carried out unilaterally by the power in place. She also said that her new political movement, the DMP, would have sent a letter to the head of state Faure Gnassingbé. What is said in the mail? We do not know. According to the DMP coordinator, letters were also sent to the staffs of other opposition political parties. After the dislocation of the coalition of 14 political parties (the C14), and after the ups and downs linked to the presidential elections of February 2020 followed by the climate of mistrust and above all hatred between the DMK and the ANC, it would be the first time that a new initiative is taken for a new regrouping of the political parties which had taken it upon themselves to put an end to the regime of dictatorship. According to the information in our possession, collected from our sources not very far from the DMP, opposition political formations, not the least, most of them former members of the C14, were contacted for initial discussions.

It is an open secret that the National Alliance for Change (ANC) and the DMK look at each other or looked at each other like earthenware dogs because of the positions taken by Monsignor Kpodzro to support Agbéyomé Kodjo in the 2020 presidential election, which did not please the leaders of the orange party. Can we hope today that the hatchet will be buried on both sides? The return of exiles, mainly Kpodzro, Agbéyomé, Atchadam and Olivier Amah, the release of political prisoners must be the first objectives to be achieved for the new opposition coalition that we wish with all our hearts.

No political formation, be it the ANC, the PNP, the CDPA or all the other political parties claiming to be from the opposition, can alone lead the fight for the liberation of the people. Since 1990 there are many examples to demonstrate this. This is why, to attenuate the negative impact within the opinion in Togo of what we consider as a humiliation, a stab inflicted on the 93-year-old prelate by the former members of the DMK, Brigitte Adjamago and the DMP must quickly prove, through the actions they will take in the coming days, that they have good intentions. We sincerely hope that these promising first steps by the actors of the Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP) who have begun to reach out to cast a wide net, will ensure that political parties such as the National Alliance for Change (ANC), in retreat for several years for various reasons, or the Pan-African National Party (PNP), despite the all-out persecution of which this formation is the victim, return to better feelings, to resume in a solid group the fight for the end of the dictatorship in Togo, where they had left him.

Samari Tchadjobo
Germany