Togo Gets its First Female Presidential Candidate

I’m proud of our Togolese neighbors. This doesn’t happen very often in African countries. They have a woman running for president. Or should I say they had. She just dropped out of the competition. Why you wonder? It looks like her and two other candidates fear that the elections will be rigged to favor the incumbent president so they are dropping out in protest. The current president just so happens to be the son of the president before him and that one ruled for three decades. After his daddy’s death, he ran for president and rigged the election to make sure he continued the ‘family legacy.’ Obviously he has no intentions of letting go anytime soon.

But let’s get back to this lady president aspirant. I’m loving her story. She has been advocating for women in Togo for the longest and wasn’t just running up against the incumbent president but against a total of 6 men. Now that is impressive. She has her doctorate in law and holds positions such as the sub-regional coordinator of the NGO Femmes, droit et développement en Afrique (Women, Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and an advisor to the African Women Development Fund (AWDF).

I think its unfortunate that she has been forced to step out of the race especially since she had the approval of so many. As the combined opposition was looking to select a single candidate who would encompass their main objectives into one force against the current government, she looked like a great choice. She had the experience of serving in the countries government for many years already and advocating for women’s rights. With women constituting 52% of the country’s population, I believe it would be a long-awaited breath of fresh air for the country.

Although others oppose her running and feel that she would be run over by the numerous male candidates plus the looming male majority in the existing government, I believe that those are just the conditions that would prove to the world that Togo is not only embracing democracy and equal rights but is also willing to put the past behind them and move towards their development as a nation.