Yawa Chantal Tségan Named Commissioner General of Togo Revenue Authority

Economic governance

Sunday, 26 October 2025 17:07

Yawa Chantal Tségan Named Commissioner General of Togo Revenue Authority

(Togo First) - The Togo Revenue Authority (OTR) has appointed former Parliament Speaker Yawa Chantal Tségan as its new Commissioner General, succeeding Philippe Kokou Tchodié. The leadership change at the institution—which oversees tax, customs, and local revenue collection—took effect on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.

Tségan combines technocratic expertise with political experience. Trained as a tax inspector at the École Nationale des Impôts in Clermont-Ferrand, she previously served in the Directorate of Large Enterprises and as Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Transport before entering Parliament in 2013.

She formally assumed her new role at a handover ceremony held at OTR headquarters, attended by Finance and Budget Minister Essowè Barcola. Tségan will now lead the OTR through a challenging period focused on improving collection, tackling fraud, and enhancing taxpayer services.

Outgoing Commissioner General Tchodié, appointed in February 2019, oversaw a period of strong performance. Budget revenues collected by the OTR totaled 779.6 billion XOF in 2021, rose to 865.3 billion XOF in 2022, and reached 990.1 billion XOF in 2023. This 2023 figure amounted to 108.6% of the target and a 14.5% increase over the previous year, according to OTR data. By the end of August 2025, the OTR had collected 737.2 billion XOF, or 61% of the annual target of just over 1.2 trillion XOF.

The leadership change comes at a pivotal moment, as Togo enters a new political era under a revised Constitution. Following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is prioritizing economic growth and fiscal consolidation, with the OTR acting as the key driver of domestic resource mobilization.

Tségan faces several fiscal challenges, including widening the tax base, strengthening customs oversight, digitizing services, and improving local revenue collection. She inherits a modernized institution but must maintain revenue growth and raise the share of direct taxes, which accounted for only about 25% of budget revenues in 2023, according to OTR reports.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

REFORMS OVERVIEW

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At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

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CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

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In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

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