Kwassi Klutse (born July 29, 1945.) 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 who was the

Prime Minister of Togo This is a list of prime ministers of Togo since the formation of the post of Prime Minister in 1960, to the present day. A total of thirteen people have served as Prime Minister of Togo – twelve men and one woman. Among them, one person, Edem ...

from August 20, 1996 to May 21, 1999.

Life and career

Klutse was born in Agbélouvé, Zio Prefecture. After working as an official at the Ministry of Planning from 1977 to 1995, he was appointed to the government of Prime Minister

Edem Kodjo Édouard Kodjovi "Edem" Kodjo (May 23, 1938 – April 11, 2020), was a Togolese politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity from 1978 to 1983; later, in Togo, he was a prominent opposition leader after t ...

as Minister of Planning and Territorial Development on November 29, 1995. Subsequently, in by-elections that were held in constituencies where the results of the 1994 parliamentary election had been annulled, the

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) of 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 ...

won all three constituencies at stake, giving it and its allies a parliamentary majority and enabling it to form a new government without relying on Kodjo's

Togolese Union for Democracy The Togolese Union for Democracy (french: Union togolaise pour la démocratie, UTD) was a political party in Togo. History The UTD was formed in 1991 by Edem Kodjo as a breakaway from the former sole legal party, the Rally of the Togolese People. ...

(UTD) party. Klutse was then appointed as Prime Minister by Eyadéma on August 20, 1996.''Africa South of the Sahara 2004'' (2003), Routledge, page 1,145. Previously not a member of a political party, in 1997 Klutse joined the RPT and became a member of its Political Bureau. On August 19, 1998, Eyadéma accepted the resignation of Klutse and his government, but he reappointed Klutse on August 20 to head a new government, which was named on September 1."Togo: New government appointed, opposition absent", Agence France-Presse, September 2, 1998. The opposition refused to participate in this government, and Klutse, speaking on television, "deplore that the sincere and brotherly hand extended by the president was not accepted by the leaders of the opposition". In the March 1999 parliamentary election, Klutse was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

as the RPT candidate in the First Constituency of Zio Prefecture; he was unopposed and won the seat with 100% of the vote.''Journal Officiel de la Republique Togolaise''
, 20 April 1999, page 27 . He and his government resigned on April 17, 1999; Eyadéma accepted the resignation, and Klutse's government remained temporarily in office in a caretaker capacity. Eyadéma appointed Eugène Koffi Adoboli as Klutse's successor on May 21, 1999. Klutse was re-elected to the National Assembly in the October 2002 parliamentary election from the First Constituency of Zio Prefecture. In the October 2007 parliamentary election, Klutse was the second candidate on the RPT's candidate list in Zio Prefecture,List of candidates in Zio
, CENI website . but failed to win a seat; all three seats in Zio were won by the opposition

Union of the Forces of Change The Union of Forces for Change (french: Union des Forces du Changement) is an opposition political party in Togo. The President of the UFC was Gilchrist Olympio

(UFC). Klutse remained a member of the Political Bureau of the RPT and was again chosen as a member of the RPT Central Committee from Zio Prefecture at the party's 9th Congress in December 2006.Members of the RPT Central Committee
RPT website .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klutse, Kwassi Prime Ministers of Togo 1945 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Togo) Rally of the Togolese People politicians 21st-century Togolese people