In a statement released on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Togolese authorities to reverse their recent three-month suspension of the Tampa Express newspaper. The bi-monthly publication faced sanctions after publishing a critique of a government minister.
“Togolese authorities must allow Tampa Express to resume publication without delay,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, speaking from Durban. “Media regulations should be used to encourage good practice, not to deploy disproportionate punishments or censorship.”
The High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC), Togo’s media regulator, justified the suspension in a November 4 statement. The HAAC accused Tampa Express of disseminating “false information without evidence” and of repeated breaches of journalistic ethics.
The disputed article, published October 30, criticized the alleged political influence of Sandra Ablamba Ahoéfavi Johnson, Minister and Secretary General of the Togolese Presidency, as well as Togo’s Governor at the World Bank. The article claimed that Johnson had obstructed the appointment of three individuals to the HAAC.
Tampa Express publishing director Francisco Napo-Koura disclosed that the headline which reportedly labeled Johnson the “rising star of the ‘whores’ of the republic” was at the center of the controversy. According to Napo-Koura, the phrase referenced French author Christine Deviers-Joncour, whose influence in French politics led her to title her own memoir “Whore of the Republic.”
This suspension marks the fourth time since 2022 that the HAAC has summoned Napo-Koura for alleged journalistic misconduct. In 2023, Tampa Express was previously suspended for three months over an article on corporate mismanagement, a decision that followed a complaint by a former executive of the firm.
Napo-Koura also faces a pending defamation trial over the same report, which was postponed on October 9, 2023.
HAAC spokesman Patrick Adom directed inquiries to the regulator’s existing decision, while CPJ’s request for comment from the Presidency remains unanswered.