12/01/2026
They called it independence. But how independent can you be when someone else still prints your money?
Sylvannus Olympio became Togo’s first president in 1960 with a vision most African leaders didn’t dare speak aloud: true economic sovereignty. He wanted Togo to print its own currency, control its own central bank, and break free from the CFA franc—a colonial relic that kept 14 African nations financially tied to France.
France wasn’t having it. The CFA system wasn’t just symbolic. It was strategic. African nations were required to deposit 50% of their foreign reserves in the French Treasury, giving France direct control over their monetary policy, inflation, and economic decisions. Olympio’s plan threatened the entire architecture.
Three days before he could launch Togo’s new currency in January 1963, he was assassinated outside the U.S. embassy. The assassins? Former French colonial soldiers. France denied involvement, but the message was clear: economic freedom would cost you your life.
Even today, most CFA nations still don’t control their own money supply.
If political independence means nothing without economic independence, was decolonization ever finished?
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Sources:
- Verschave, François-Xavier. La Françafrique* (Stock, 1998)
- Pigeaud, F***y & Sylla, Ndongo Samba. Africa’s Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story (Pluto Press, 2021)
