THE RISING NUMBER OF ‘COUP DE TATS’ IN AFRICA; A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.
By Dr. Nevers Sekwila Mumba,
•Chairman, Africa Center for Innovative Governance (ACIG).
•Former Republican Vice President of Zambia, •President of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD).
January 31st 2022
Lusaka, ZAMBIA
Most african countries are committed to the experiment of a democratic system of government. The majority decide who the leader of the country shall be. With all its attendant problems of rigging, democracy has attempted to restore relative peace across the continent.
As leaders, our job is to keep perfecting this system of government in order to measure up with the aspirations of our people.
A few days ago, Burkina Faso fell prey to a military take over. The army undemocratically seized power from a civilian government citing several abuses by the government of President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. In 18 months, in similar scenes, military leaders have toppled the governments of Mali, Chad, Guinea and Sudan.
The response of both Ecowas and AU are for the most part uninspiring. It appears to us that although both bodies have stated their position of anti military coups, they seem to have no capacity to stop or reverse a coup. This emboldens those who would like to replicate this type of action in other nations.
The continental regional bodies like ECOWAS, SADC, East African Community and the African Union itself are too weak to police these undemocratic activities. It is important to appreciate that following early warning signs in troubled countries should be the priority of these bodies.
Our experience has been that most of these communities are only assembly points for Presidents to pat each other on the back instead of challenging each other on issues of good governance.
The example of Zimbabwe under the late Robert Mugabe is one clear example of how SADC failed to have an honest conversation with the late Zimbabwean President about what was brewing in his country. To the contrary, they praised him as a hero until his own army brought him down.
The AU must not only condemn military takeovers but must work on avoiding them and once a democratically elected government has been ousted, they must have enough clout to reverse the development in a few days and place such a country on a path back to democracy.
Unless Africa resolves to fight for working democracies on the continent, soon, other nations shall follow suit and africa could slide back into the old dark, retrogressive ages of military coups.
Until the African Union, and other regional bodies start to ensure that coup leaders don’t benefit personally, and also ends its bias and support of incumbent governments even when they become corrupt, dictatorial, and depart from the rule of law and democratic tenets, we may, as a continent, struggle to stop this rising tide of military take overs.The African Union, must, therefore, take a more pro active and effective approach as the current path has failed us.