"Unfortunately, the Togolese constitution of October 1992 has never been applied," Jean Degli (Interview)

Jean Yaovi DEGLI is familiar with the history of the 1992 constitution. He was one of the youngest Togolese politicians and the youngest minister of the transitional government at the age of 28. He is a wise actor and observer of the long struggles in Togo for democracy since the 1990s. While the debate on the return to this constitution of 1992 becomes stormy, in this interview with full-news, Me Jean Degli its analysis of current political events. For him, "the Togolese people responded to the question of its president" by calling for the constitution of 1992.



Full-news: Master. Jean Yaovi DEGLI, you are one of the actors of the constitution of 1992. Do you understand today the requirement of the return to this constitution by the Togolese opposition?

Mr. Jean Yaovi DEGLI: I particularly welcome those who have mobilized to ask that the Togolese leaders finally take this wounded people into consideration.

I especially thank Mr. Tikpi Atchadam for having the right language and taking the right step to create the event in order to unite this opposition, which struggled to recover together to mobilize the People for democracy and democracy. The rule of law in our country. May God Almighty bless and protect him.

Then, and in response to your question, I will say yes, I fully understand the demand for a return to the 1992 constitution not only from the Togolese opposition but from a good part of our populations.

First, remember that this constitution was adopted almost unanimously, since more than 97% of the Togolese electorate adopted it in September 1992. This constitution was modified unilaterally at the request of one man who considered that its power can not accommodate itself and it needs power for life. I appointed the President of the Dictator General (CEO) Eyadema who had this Constitution amended by his party (a handful of Togolese) supported in this by the soldier who responded to his fingers and to the eye.

After the death of the CEO in 2005 and more than 500 dead later, in order to pacify the country and allow the current power to be accepted, the political class (power and opposition) signed in August 2006 the Global Political Agreement (APG) which calls for a return to a number of fundamental principles of this Constitution. Then, hiding behind arguments such as the Union of Forces of Change (UFC) violated the APG because it did not participate in the government resulting from the agreement, the power refused for eleven (11) to put this APG after the President of the Republic has himself affirmed several times that he was the guarantor and would implement it. Ten (10) years after the signing of this Agreement, we say to this people in 2016 that this APG is obsolete and that a commission is set up to go and come and tell the government what kind of constitutional reforms should be done in the country. As a result of the contempt with which this people is treated in this way, this commission comes before the people and asks them what types of reforms they wish to have.

Well ! The answer was not long in coming. Since the regime does not know what reforms this people who adopted a constitution more than 97% wish to have, the people simply wanted to remind them that it has a will that has already clearly materialized and that this translated in the Constitution adopted in 1992. And since this is what the Togolese people know best as responding to their idea of ​​constitutional reforms and their aspirations, it wanted to be served this Constitution which it is not not decayed.

It is therefore not surprising that the Togolese people are demanding a return to the 1992 Constitution.

If the Togolese do not know what the regime with its famous commission wanted to serve them as reforms, they know at least what is contained in their 1992 democratic constitution. The Togolese people as a whole therefore refused the uncertain tomorrows to ask what " he already knows. This is the surest answer to the problem of constitutional reforms and especially to the question of what type of reform the Togolese wishes.


The Head of State apparently wanted the People's response by setting up this Commission of Reflection. During its entire tour, the Commission could not bring together a thousand (1000) people. Then dozens if not hundreds of thousands of Togolese descend into the street to give the President of the Republic the answer to his question. I think we can not do better and we can not have a better answer from a people. The Togolese people answered the question of its president. "The reforms we want are the return to the 1992 Constitution". Hence the necessity of returning to the said Constitution. The answer is clear enough that we do not have to go by four ways. In addition, this response avoids any discussion and conflict. The original Constitution of 1992 desired by the Togolese exists. It contains all that is needed to make democracy and the rule of law in Togo. Let it be restored to the people in its entirety and everything is settled.

Do you know? Power has drawn too much on the rope; too abused of its strength and the silence of the Togolese people. These reforms could have been done for years and we would not be here today. We have preferred to despise the aspirations of the People, played with the fear of people, acted in bad faith to ignore signed agreements because it was said the weakness of the opposition leaves a wide boulevard to the regime which can therefore hope to remain in power ad vitam aeternam. The various calls to act and initiate reforms in serene ways to avoid the worst were ignored. All this is now turning against the power in power. The moral to deduce from it is simple: by dint of seeking what one can not find, one ends up finding what one does not seek.

Since the demonstrations of 19 August last, the debate on reforms with the return to the constitution of 92 seems more than ever before. The Togolese opposition is no longer aiming for reforms but for the pure and simple return of the 1992 text. Do you think this is a good strategy?

The strategy of the Togolese opposition is simply the strategy of a people who, confronted with the uncertainty of the reforms they want to impose on it and of which they do not know the arcana and to the certainty of a Constitution of which they master perfectly the ins and outs for having adopted it himself, prefers not to go on the adventure but rather to claim and return to what he knows.

I do not think there can be a better strategy. The people do not know the reforms that the government wants to serve. He knows what is in the 1992 Constitution and what kind of political system it allows him to live or experience. He therefore chose the known in the face of the unknown, certainty in the face of uncertainty.

At least in this area, the opposition has the certainty of being entirely on the side of the people who voted massively for this Constitution a few years ago.

Should the constitution of 92 evolve? If so how and on what point.

It is obvious that every constitution evolves and that our Constitution of 1992 will also evolve. But you see, only a constitution that has been applied can evolve since it is to the application that we realize the uncertainties and difficulties of application to rectify what does not seem to work well.



Eyadema governed from 1993 without referring to it or better yet completely ignoring it. Then, in 2002, it emptied it of its meaning by removing all that constitutes the very quintessence of this constitution. So how do we really change this constitution that has not been implemented? Here is all the question.

Although I do not think that the 1992 Constitution has any imperfections, it is difficult for me to say today that it must evolve on this or that point. Let us begin by applying it and we will see how much it needs to be improved.

If the text proposed by the Government were to be adopted, with the amendments which the parliamentary opposition intend to introduce; it would like it to be retroactive. Do you share this approach? Why ?

The law is not in principle retroactive and can only be exceptional, either because exceptions are provided for in the legal principles (amnesty law, tax laws, soft criminal laws and procedural laws, etc.). ), or because there are political agreements to do so.

It is true that even if the principle of non-retroactivity is acquired, one may be tempted to favor those wishing to apply the limitation of presidential mandates to the Head of State retroactively if one starts from the fact that the regime has done everything to prevent the implementation of these reforms in order to perpetuate itself in power and that if these reforms had been carried out since 2006 and the limitation of mandates re-established, the current head of state would have already completed and completed its two mandates. Is it now possible for our opposition to apply a constitutional provision retroactively to the power in power? The question remains.

But it seems to me that the real problem with respect to the demands of the opposition lies much more in the immediacy of the application of the reforms than in their retroactive application.



In any case, that's my understanding.

For you, if the reforms were to be adopted, whether in parliament or by referendum as announced by some politicians, what should be the next step in the reform process of the country?

The next step, of course, is to implement these reforms and translate them quickly into reality. Arrangements must therefore be made for this without delay. We are not going to put in eleven (11) new years to put the necessary mechanisms and bodies in place after further killings.