By KABS KANU
Imposing sanctions on and suspending member states where military coups have been staged is a great effort and a laudable move to discourage unconstitutional changes of government in Africa. Nobody will fault the African Union ( AU) and the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) for their hard line against military takeovers. The constitution and the ballot box must remain sacrosanct.
However AU and ECOWAS have accrued universal condemnation from Africans for their seeming premium to be concerned only in stopping coups and keeping bad leaders in office, while showing no equal concern for good governance, respect for the constitution and the Rule of Law and human rights by sitting governments in Africa.
If the AU and ECOWAS had ensured that they shared the same venom and disapproval for military coups with respect for good governance , observance of democracy , fundamental human rights and economic probity by African leaders , the continent would have been the better for it. But this is not the case. AU and ECOWAS are much more concerned for the survival of serving African leaders than making sure that they rule their subjects constitutionally and with respect for the law and human rights.
It is a shame that when it comes to defending the rights of the ordinary African who cry everyday under the weight of bad, wicked, callous, inefficient, human-rights abusing, lawless and irredeemably corrupt leaders and governments, the AU and ECOWAS have failed woefully. You never hear them condemn acts of bad governance, human rights abuses , elections rigging and corruption by African leaders. As far as the AU and ECOWAS are concerned, these despotic , cruel , inefficient and corrupt African leaders can do whatever they want, with impunity. There is nothing wrong. But the moment the army leaves the barracks to seize power with the expressed desires to right the wrongs and crimes of the malevolent African leaders, they are condemned, ostracized, vilified and harsh sanctions are imposed on them.
The AU and ECOWAS must realize that much as we all detest and condemn military coups, army takeovers never happen without a reason. The soldiers may not be the right alternatives themselves, but most times the reasons given by them for staging coups are justified. In many cases, African leaders and governments provoke the soldiers to strike when all other alternate measures for change have been exhausted. At times, military coups are the last resort . Cue Guinea where the President refused to leave after completing his mandated two terms and criminally tinkered with the constitution to give himself an illegal third term. What did the AU and ECOWAS do to stop Professor Alpha Conde ? Nothing > Yet, when he was overthrown, they moved against the military leaders and imposed harsh sanctions against them. Is that not hypocrisy and double standards that stink to the high heavens ?
All over Africa, people are displeased with their governments and are complaining bitterly against their misrule, abuse of power, unconstitutional and lawless acts, horrific human rights abuses, incompetence , elections rigging and corruption but the AU and ECOWAS are deaf to their cries like puffadders.
During their most recent summit in Accra, Ghana, ECOWAS leaders resolved to send a stabilization force to help stabilize the security situation in Guinea-Bissau. ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou told the press that “This is something that we will do very rapidly to ensure that this type of attempt of take-over power by force does not take place. ” So, in essence, ECOWAS will seek to prevent future coups , which is a noble idea, but what will they do to address the ills that provoke these coups in the first place ?
Right now, Sierra Leone is edging towards chaos and another war because of the reprehensible tribalism, exclusion of other ethnic groups , lawlessness , unconstitutional behavior, illegal use of the judiciary against the opposition , defiance of the international community, human rights abuses and grand theft and corruption of the President Maada Bio and Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP) government . Sierra Leoneans are very bitter against the President and his government . Unless he is stopped, President Bio is on the verge of conducting a bogus presidential election in 2023 . With only a year to the election, the opposition has still not been allowed to hold its delegates convention and elect its presidential flagbearer–though the SLPP had long had their’s— through subtle and tacit government-orchestrated court cases that the judiciary keeps inexplicably subjecting to long adjustments .
Given the opportunity , Sierra Leoneans would want to change their present government at the ballot box in 2023, but unless there is international intervention, the despotic and care-less President Bio would do everything down right dirty, lawless and unconstitutional to prevent it from happening. The signs are glaring . When African leaders make meaningful changes impossible, what do the AU and ECOWAS want Africans to do ? Continue to fold their hands and wallow in the mire and suffering ?
Sad to say, the AU and ECOWAS must be warned that there would be more military coups in Africa. The people of Africa and their military have realized once again that the international community does not care for them and unless they take matters into their own hands, they will not be able to change totalitarian , corrupt and despotic governments at the ballot box.
Unless and until the AU and ECOWAS revisit their priorities and give more premium to good governance , democracy, constitutional rule and respect for fundamental human rights , free and fair elections and economic transparency and accountability, the menace of power-grabbing by the men in jackboots has come back to stay.
