Africanews
Togolese opposition parties recently failed to win a vote on a bill barring President Gnassingbe Eyadema from control of state media. Analysts blame the defeat on the inability of the two top opposition parties to co-orporate in their activities. |
The tiny West African nation of Togo returned to multi-party democracy over two years ago. Since then the main parliamentary opposition parties have been engaged in the battle for the establishment of an independent media commission. Under the country's new constitution the commission is expected to remove the state media from the monopoly and control of president Gnassingbe Eyadema who has ruled the country for the past 29 years. But when the vital moment came to vote for the bill in parliament, Togo's quarrelling opposition parties proved to be their own worst enemies when they failed to take a common stand.
Togo's opposition parliamentarians looked like a sea mourning faces when the final vote was taken. Many opposition members of parliament nearly broke down in tears when the Speaker announced that the combined opposition parties had been narrowly defeated by 39 votes to 38 in their bid to unseat President Gnassingbe Eyadema from the media commission. There was only one abstention.
By this vote, the amendment proposal by Togo Peoples Rally (RPT) of Eyadema won the day. The RPT proposal gave the presidency three representatives out of the seven-member commission. The remaining four nominations will be approved by parliament in due course.
Analysts say that in practical terms, this means that both parliamentary opposition parties, the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR) led by Mr Yaovi Agboyibor, and the Togo Union for Democracy (UTD) of Prime Minister Edem Kodjo will together share the remaining four places on the media commission on equal basis with the RPT. A spokesman for the opposition said they were disappointed for failing to exclude Eyadema in the commission.
Independent observers have also expressed fears that the vote reverts the much anticipated news commission back to the domination of Eyadema's supporters. They attribute the failure of the two main opposition parties to dominate the media commission to the bitter rivalry that exists between them. Due to the rivalry, the opposition could not agree on a common strategy during debate on the composition of the media commission.
Initially the CAR wanted the seven members of the commission to be exclusively nominated by parliament. President Eyadema's RPT argued that it was unconstitutional to exclude the presidency from being represented on the commission.
Strangely enough, when the amendment was put to vote, the opposition parties voted against themselves. This brought the second major opposition party, UTD to the floor with a compromise amendment. But this was also defeated.
The victory of the ruling RPT on the media commission issue has caused a storm of panic in the opposition ranks. This has led to the expulsion of a UTD parliamentarian, Agouda Momouni, from the party on suspicion that he failed to tow the party line during the voting.
Inspite of the opposition set-back, the establishment of the independent press commission has been welcomed by many Togolese as a step in the right direction for the development of a free and independent press.
State media organs expected to come under the commission's control include the national radio and television, the daily Togo Press, Togo News Agency, and the Cinematographic Deapartment.
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