Kwame-Mensah Jacques Amouzou (born 25 July 1936) is a

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

lese politician and businessman. An ethnic Ewe, Amouzou was a minor candidate in both the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

and 1998 presidential elections. He is the President of the Union of Independent Liberals (ULI). Amouzou was "widely perceived as a front" for President

Gnassingbé Eyadéma Gnassingbé Eyadéma (; born Étienne Gnassingbé, 26 December 1935 – 5 February 2005) was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Eyadéma participated i ...

during the 1990s.

Political career

Amouzou was born in Gbatope, located in Zio Prefecture.''Journal Official de la Republique Togolaise''
6 August 1993, page 3 . At the time of the August 1993 presidential election, Amouzou ran as an independent candidate."Aug 1993 – Election victory for Eyadema"
''Keesing's Record of World Events'', volume 39, August 1993 Togo, page 39,583. He and Ife Adani were the only candidates to stand against President Eyadéma, who won 96% of the vote. Amouzou and Adani were not considered serious challengers; all of the major opposition leaders chose to boycott the election. Led by Amouzou, the ULI was founded in November 1993 as a moderate opposition party, representing the political space between Eyadéma's

Rally of the Togolese People The Rally of the Togolese People (french: Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais, RPT) was the ruling political party in Togo from 1969 to 2012. It was founded by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma and headed by his son, President Faure Gnassingbé, after ...

(RPT) and the radical opposition Collective of Democratic Opposition-2 (COD-2). In the February 1994 parliamentary election, he ran as a candidate in Zio Prefecture, but did not win a seat. Amouzou and the ULI were viewed as close to the RPT, and Amouzou was described as "virtually a second RPT candidate" at the time of the 1998 presidential election; his critics alleged that he was merely a tool of Eyadéma who was used to manipulate the political playing field in Eyadéma's favor. He placed last in the 1998 election with 0.35% of the vote.''Africa Today'', volume 4
(1998), pages 24–25 and 29.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amouzou, Jacques 1936 births Living people Togolese politicians Togolese businesspeople Ewe people 21st-century Togolese people