Kofi Martin Yamgnane (born 11 October 1945) is a French-
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
lese politician and engineer.
Biography
Yamgnane was born in 1945 in
Bassar
Bassar is a town in Bassar Prefecture, Kara Region in Togo, situated west of Kara. The town borders Tatale which is in Ghana. The town has a population of 64,888.
Culture
Bassar was originally a centre for iron
Iron is a chemical element ...
,
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
University of Western Brittany
The University of Western Brittany (; UBO) is a French university, located in Brest, in the Academy of Rennes. On a national scale, in terms of graduate employability, the university oscillates between 18th and 53rd out of 69 universities depend ...
in 1969. Yamgnane obtained French citizenship in 1975. After years of doing engineering work without qualifications, such as designing expressway structures, he enrolled at the
in 1977 and graduated in 1981.
In 1983, he joined the town council of a village of
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, Saint-Coulitz (less than 400 inhabitants). He lost the election for mayor in the second round as a member of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
. He became well known in France in 1989 after being elected mayor of Saint-Coulitz, and at this time, one out of only two black mayors in
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...
Finistère
Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090. Yamgnane became a representative in the French National Assembly on 1 June 1997, representing Finistère. He was a member of the delegation of the National Assembly to women's rights and equal opportunities between men and women. Yamagnane served on several commissions in the Assembly, including national defense, trade, cultural affairs, finance, constitutional laws, marine transport safety, and children's rights. His term ended on 18 June 2002.
After the death of Togolese president Gnassingbe Eyadema in 2005, Yamgnane thought of running for president but decided it was not the right time. He stood as a candidate in the
2010 Togolese presidential election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
. Yamgnane campaigned on improving the health of Togolese, fixing roads and bridges, reducing unemployment, and curbing corruption. He aimed to nationalize lage industries without creating "a witch hunt". However, his candidacy was rejected by the Constitutional Court due to doubts about his identity. His papers showed two different birth dates, 11 October 1945, and 31 December 1945. The October 11 date comes from an affidavit signed by his father on 16 March 1948, while the 31 December date is used by the Togolese government. "All Togolese know around them at least one person in my case. Does this mean that this whole section of the population should be excluded from universal suffrage?" Yamgnane said.
He was arrested in October 2014 on the charge of "influence peddling" and tax evasion in the context of the
Christophe Rocancourt
Christophe Thierry Daniel Rocancourt colloquially Christopher Rocancourt (born 16 July 1967), is a French impostor and confidence man who scammed affluent people by masquerading in turn as a French nobleman, the heir to the Rockefeller family o ...
case.
Personal life
Yamgnane is married to Anne-Marie la Bretonne, a retired professor of mathematics. They live in