Financial scandals, Togo has hundreds of them. So much the authors of these evils which weaken the national economy profit from a screaming impunity that one goes today towards a trivialization of these scandals. Even those who would have to bang their fists on the table to stop the bleeding seem to give their backing to the phenomenon which is developing its tentacles in almost every sector. Today, it is the report of the Court of Auditors on the 2020 management of Covid-19 funds which feeds the debates. According to this report, there are glaring irregularities that show traces of embezzlement. But the government is not of this opinion and accuses.
The critical press and even the Court of Auditors, author of this report, find themselves in the crosshairs of the government, which charges them at will. The press makes an erroneous interpretation of the report, according to him and he rebukes the majority of Togolese who concludes that funds have been embezzled following having read this report, which is nevertheless clear as rock water. According to Christian Trimua, Minister of Human Rights, in charge of Relations with the Institutions of the Republic, the report of the Court of Auditors is an “extremely technical thing”, because “it is not a matter which is seize by the first comer”. Obviously, the Togolese cannot understand and have not understood what the Court of Auditors has written in black and white with expenses that have no supporting documents, materials paid for but not fully delivered and other irregularities which scandalize even “the first comer”.
“The report in question never spoke of prevarication, embezzlement or theft. The danger is to go beyond the thought of the Court to make attributions of offenses to people. I say this because naturally, as Minister of Human Rights, I am questioned. We have seen headlines in the press which, since the report was published, have practically blacklisted administrations and authorities,” said Christian Trimua. And to threaten: “Today, if the people who flirted with the offense of defamation and damage to reputation, are clearly condemned…”. Before Christian Trimua, other members of the government had stepped up to shout from the rooftops that all is well in the best of worlds and that it is the Togolese who have not read the report properly. In other words, we must stop talking regarding this relationship as bad. Everyone must look in the same direction like the government which “is delighted that this report considers that the expenditure relating to barrier, response or health measures is compliant, regular and sincere”.
As we can see, the government, in particular the Minister in charge of Human Rights, charges the press as if it was they who had invented the report. It only relayed the work of this institution recognized by the fundamental law. According to Trimua; the report has qualities; but also imperfections (sic). A way to scratch the Court a little. This report is an official document. The Court of Auditors is an institution of the Republic and moreover Christian Trimua should not react in this way towards it. We therefore clear those who should be accountable and assume their responsibility and who discharge on the press. It is as if the revelations made by the Court of Auditors are not serious enough.
In fact, the wise Togolese should not be surprised by this reaction of the Togolese government which has always been resistant to the reports of institutions of the Republic which overwhelm it. We remember the report by Koffi Kounté, president of the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH), which revealed the inhuman and degrading treatment suffered by the persons accused in the case of attack on the security of the ‘State. The government had denied the existence of torture in Togo. Koffi Kounte’s life was only saved by leaving the country when the institution he headed, the CNDH, concluded that there had indeed been torture. In the report made public by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IFG) in the “petrolegate” scandal, the same Christian Trimua had indicated that the IGF inspectors did not respect their terms of reference. And so it’s not what they were asked to do that they did. While this report also confirms embezzlement in the public order of oil.
So we can see that it has become a way of the government to charge the institutions that normally do their job. The government spends its time weakening these institutions and reducing them to nothing. This is the case of the CNDH, the IGF and today the Court of Auditors. And all that has unfortunately for name only impunity which has become the thing best shared by those in power.
To top it off, we had to organize a comedy at the National Assembly on Tuesday, February 21 to clear our conscience. Of course, as the National Assembly is almost monocoloured, the pill went like a letter in the mail. Fortunately, there are still a few lucid deputies who continue to denounce the deception. For the latter, there is misappropriation in the 2020 management of Covid-19 funds. Which means that the press that some charge, as well as informed Togolese, invent nothing. The rest is intimidation that cannot hide the reality of this financial scandal, one more on the land of our ancestors.
Source: Presse-lalternative.info