The new Prime Minister was Chief of Staff to President Faure Gnassingbé, with whom she has worked for more than ten years.
Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé appointed on Monday, September 28, Prime Minister Victoire Sidémého Tomegah Dogbé; the first woman to head a government in the West African country, announced the presidency on television. “Mrs. Victoire Sidémého Tomegah Dogbé is appointed Prime Minister,” said the decree read by the new secretary-general of the presidency Mrs. Ablamba Ahoéfavi Jonhson, also appointed today.
Mrs. Tomegah Dogbé, 60 years old, succeeds Komi Sélom Klassou who handed in his resignation, as well as that of his government, to the Head of State on Friday. Cabinet Director of the President, Ms. Tomegah Dogbé has worked for more than ten years alongside Faure Gnassingbé.
This mother of three children was also Minister of Grassroots Development, Handicrafts, and Youth in the previous government. A training manager, her mission will be to govern the country at a time when it is being hit hard by the global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In power for fifteen years
On September 11, the World Bank announced the release of $70 million to Togo to revive its economy, whose growth is expected to fall from 5.3 percent in 2019 to 1 percent in 2020. According to the institution, more than one out of every two inhabitants of Togo lives below the poverty line.
A political change had been expected in Togo since Faure Gnassingbé was re-elected in February for a fourth presidential term; but this change has been delayed by the pandemic. Faure Gnassingbé’s victory in the presidential election came after a constitutional review that allowed him to run again.
Faure Gnassingbé has presided over Togo, a country of 8 million people, since 2005, when he succeeded, after his death; his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 38 years. To date, 1,743 cases of contamination and 44 deaths due to the virus have been recorded in Togo.
In July, Gabon also appointed a woman to head its government, also a first in the history of this Central African country.
Source: Le Monde
