Findings from the Round 9 of the Afrobarometer survey has revealed that most of the recent coup d’etats on the continent are as a result of the elongation of terms of office by leaders whose tenure have elapsed.
This has necessitated a call by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union to make stronger legislation that will prevent such occurrences.
Addressing the 2nd Stakeholder Convening on Governance, Democracy and Human Rights, Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement of CDD-Ghana, Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante said the passage of such laws will prevent greedy leaders from extending their terms of office to reduce the subsequent impact of overthrowing legitimate governments.
According to him, the surest means of averting the coups is “by legislating against term elongation.”
“We know that in the long term if we have good governance, we have a political regime and systems that delivers on the material needs of our people, if we have fundamental human rights that are respected, we are not going to be talking about coup. But at this point, now the military leaders are also looking at seeing all these people extending their terms in office, changing constitutions, and they are making that as a case.
“What is the difference –because I’m using a gun and you’re using repression and other kinds or forms to also stay in power? If African leaders want to lead this charge to stop the unconstitutional overthrow of government, then they also have to show that there is a real commitment to term elongation,” he indicated.
The West African sub-region has faced many coup d’etats recently with Gabon from the Central African bloc being the latest.
The ECOWAS threatened to invade Niger where the last overthrow on the West African bloc occurred. This was after a deadline had been given by the ECOWAS leadership for the military in Niger to restore power back to the civilian government.
Even though the military junta has not obliged to the demands of ECOWAS, the sub-region’s leadership has failed to launch the threats they issued.
