3 more Coups’ Lingers in West Africa- as ECOWAS Parliament worries
Three West African nations are expected to experience coup’d eta by the close of 2022, proceeding to 2023, a member of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Hon Emmanuel Kwesi Bedzrah, has revealed to EXPRESSNEWSGHANA, in Ghana’s Parliament.
According to him, out of the three coups, two of them would occur in Francophone states and one in an Anglophone nation.
Hon Bedzrah, a member of the Ghanaian delegation to ECOWAS Parliament however declined to mention names of the states on grounds of security.
Between 2021 and 2022 there had been four military coups in the West Africa sub-region. Three of the coups were successful in Mali, Guinea and Burkina-Faso, while the Guinea-Bissau coup was foiled by the government’s military.
The unceasing coups in the sub-region has forced the ECOWAS parliament to reconvened recently for an emergency meeting over the imminent security matters, especially terrorism.
The Ghanaian MP for Ho West Constituency in the Volta Region explained that the ECOWAS Parliament has identified bad governance among some members Heads of States as the main causes of the plethora of coups in West Africa.
He said, though youth unemployment and other national peculiar issues are contributing factors of coups, some heads of states have also abused power and changes their national constitutions, a situation he noted abhorred by the ECOWAS protocols.
Nevertheless, Hon Bedzrah, a Member of Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of ECOWAS Parliament said some eminent citizens of the sub-region have been delegated to meet some of the heads of states in their respective countries to explain the position of the ECOWAS Parliament.
He said, former Nigerian President and ECOWAS mediator in Mali, Goodluck Jonathan, and former President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Professor Kwesi Aning of Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Training Centre in Accra, were some of the panelists that met the Parliament on the security and governance issues.
, “With the issues in Mali, Guinea and Burkina-Faso, we are working to let some of these heads of states to understand the position of the ECOWAS parliament and to give advises, Hon Bedzrah, stressed
He added that the ECOWAS parliament is also in the process of enacting protocols that would ensure members heads of state abide by their respective national constitutions two term-limited tenure of office to reduce the tendency to abuse of offices and change of the constitution.
While insisting on bad governance as the major cause of citizens’ distrust of their leaders in the West Africa sub-region, Hon Bedzrah said the ECOWAS Parliament eminent mediators believed that good governance and credible democratic processes would avoid crises, which are sources of instability.
The history of coups in West Africa suggests that in each decade between 1958 and 2008, according to one researcher, West Africa had the highest number of coups on the continent, accounting for 44.4%.
Since 2010, there have been over 40 coups and attempted coups in Africa; some 20 occurred in West Africa and the Sahel (including Chad). Since 2019 there have been 7 (five successful and two failed).
Between 1958 and 2008, most coups in Africa occurred in former French colonies, as did six of the 7 since 2019. Similarly, 12 of the 20 coups in the sub-region since 2010 happened there. The latest successful putsch in Burkina Faso came on the heels of two attempted ones, in 2015 and 2016.
Despite modest democratic achievements, a more accurate picture of democracy in West Africa is that it is superficial. Elections are held periodically but without crucial ingredients of democracy like informed and active participation, respect for the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and civil liberties.
Source: expressnewsghana.com
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