My name is Komlan Eyram Mensah Dossou, and I am from Togo — a country where speaking out can cost you your life.

My name is Komlan Eyram Mensah Dossou

, and I am from Togo — a country where speaking out can cost you your life.

For years, I lived quietly, like many others, afraid of what might happen if I said what I really felt.

But fear is a prison, and I’ve chosen freedom.  

I will not stay silent, because silence only serves the oppressor.

When I joined the ANC, it wasn’t for personal gain.  

It was because I saw how deeply broken our system is.  

I saw families starving while the ruling elite lives in luxury.  

I saw children who couldn’t attend school, and doctors who couldn’t afford medicine. 

I saw elections stolen and protestors beaten.

I began writing. I began posting. I marched. 

I called out corruption and repression by name — and the name at the top was always the same: 

Faure Gnassingbé.

Soon after, the threats began. Anonymous messages.  

Warnings. “If you come back to Togo, we will find you.”  

Then they went to my home and threatened my mother.  

That’s when I knew this was bigger than politics. This was war against free minds.

I fled. But even in exile, I am not free from fear. And yet I continue to speak. Because others cannot.  

Because my people deserve better. Because I have a duty to history.

Some people ask why I continue. Why not live quietly? The answer is simple: because I believe in Togo.  

I believe in a new generation. 

I believe that we will one day walk freely in Lomé, without fear of being watched or followed.

This is not just politics. This is personal. This is moral. And I will not be silent.


 

Comments

  1. Anna2:50 PM

    When change comes, we’ll remember who stood tall

    ReplyDelete

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