Kwassi Klutse (born July 29, 1945[1]) is a Togolese politician who was the Prime Minister of Togo from August 20, 1996 to May 21, 1999.
Life and career
Klutse was born in Agbélouvé, Zio Prefecture.[1] After working as an official at the Ministry of Planning from 1977 to 1995,[2] he was appointed to the government of Prime Minister Edem Kodjo as Minister of Planning and Territorial Development on November 29, 1995.[1][3] 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 (RPT) of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma 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 (UTD) party. Klutse was then appointed as Prime Minister by Eyadéma on August 20, 1996.[4][5]
Previously not a member of a political party, in 1997 Klutse joined the RPT and became a member of its Political Bureau.[1] 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,[6] which was named on September 1.[7][8] The opposition refused to participate in this government,[8][9] and Klutse, speaking on television, "deplore[d] that the sincere and brotherly hand extended by the president was not accepted by the leaders of the opposition".[8]
In the March 1999 parliamentary election, Klutse was elected to the National Assembly as the RPT candidate in the First Constituency of Zio Prefecture; he was unopposed and won the seat with 100% of the vote.[10] 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.[11] Eyadéma appointed Eugène Koffi Adoboli as Klutse's successor on May 21, 1999.[1]
Klutse remained a member of the Political Bureau of the RPT[16] and was again chosen as a member of the RPT Central Committee from Zio Prefecture at the party's 9th Congress in December 2006.[17]
^"Aug 1996 - Resignation of Kodjo - New government", Keesing's Record of World Events, volume 42, August 1996, page 41,217.
^Africa South of the Sahara 2004 (2003), Routledge, page 1,145.
^"Aug 1998 - Resignation of government - Re-appointment of Prime Minister", Keesing's Record of World Events, volume 44, August 1998, page 42,431.
^"Le gouvernement du Togo, formé le 1er septembre 1998", Afrique Express(in French). "Togo gouverement". Archived from the original on December 31, 2005. Retrieved 2005-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ abc"Togo: New government appointed, opposition absent", Agence France-Presse, September 2, 1998.
