‘Yaa Asantewaa’ appears in Togo; arrests soldier

It was reminiscent of the exploits and bravery of Ashanti warrior in 1900, Yaa Asantewaa, a native of Ejisu, Kumasi, last Saturday in Ghana’s neighboring country, Togo, when a 37-year-old woman single-handedly arrested a soldier in a demonstration at Sokode in the central part of the country.
This happened when some Togolese soldiers opened fire at demonstrators who had taken to the street to protest the dynasty of Gnassingbe family in the country.
Seven people died as a result of the protest, while several others sustained various degrees of injuries.
But this woman, who was part of the demonstration, showed bravery like Yaa Asantewaa when she arrested one of the soldiers who fired tear gas and live bullets at the protesters to disperse them.
The woman was seen dragging the soldier on the ground, while the demonstrators and passersby looked at her in amazement.
The demonstrators were against the perpetual stay of President Faure Gnassingbe who has been in power in the West African country since the death 2005 of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who also ruled Togo for 38years.
The protesters, clad in the colours of the largest opposition Parti National Pan-Africain (PNP) party, called on the president to step down, saying “50 years is too much.”
They also called for the reinstatement of some provisions in the country’s constitution which will limit the president to have more powers.
According to them, the 1992 Constitution of the country brought in a national multi-party democracy after decades of dictatorship and limited presidential terms to two, but ten years later, lawmakers amended it to enable Eyadema to run for another term.
They alleged that after the death of Eyadema the military effectively manipulated the constitution by installing his [Eyadema’s] son, as interim President instead of the head of the national assembly as was legally required by the law.