Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante, Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement for the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has expressed concerns over how democracy in Africa is declining rapidly, and yet regional bodies like Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lost credibility to tackle the situation.
He said ECOWAS has lost credibility because some of its members have circumvented their national constitutions to prolong their stay in office.
According to him, altering a national constitution to legitimise one’s continuous stay in power is tantamount to military takeover.
Dr Asante was speaking at the 2nd stakeholders’ convening on governance, democracy and human rights in Accra recently. Most often, he noted, African leaders lacked the courage to reject or stand up against Heads of States who use parliament to over stay their term in office.
He added that events of the last two years challenge the regional and continental bodies’ responses to crisis, saying “ECOWAS has suffered a significant credibility crisis as it has tried to deploy its traditional response to unconstitutional changes in government like suspension and economic sanctions.
“The case against ECOWAS is that its members include heads of states who themselves have extended their mandates illegally (or engaged in constitutional coups), or are using repression to marginalise opposition in their country and close civic spaces, so they lack any moral right to call the military when they take over government.”
Dr. Asante noted that the continent had a chance to survive the tides, only if ECOWAS and AU (African Union) would work together to tackle the transnational problems of insecurity, extremism, economic crisis, bad governance and decline in democracy.
He further stated that while good governance and meritocracy are the ultimate solution to coup d’etats, there was also a need for disciplined security forces that respect human rights, as well as governments that reject constitutional coups.
Paul Nana Kwabena Aborampah Manager, Data for Governance Alliance (D4GA) Programme, on his part reiterated that democracy was in its darkest moments in Africa, highlighted by multiple coup d’états. He said the continent had recorded more than 18 coup d’etats over the past two decades.
Meanwhile, the changing climatic conditions and economic instabilities have impacted nations across the world, but lack of comprehensive strategies to respond effectively to these challenges have exposed Africans to disasters, and conflicts emanating mostly from the struggling for limited resources, especially among pastoralist and the African large agricultural-based communities.
“Theplethora of challenges requires that African citizens join hands with their regional and sub regional bodies to fight for an improved and better continent capable of withstanding the shocks of the bad climatic conditions, create jobs for the youth, and make the continent a better place to live,” he urged.
About D4GA
The 2nd stakeholders’ convening had representatives from the African Union Organs, including the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the African Court of Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), and the African Union Office of the Youth Envoy (AU-OYE).
The aim is to give a push to the AU Agenda 2063, which is two years away to realise its first 10-year milestone.
Since not many successes has been chalked in relation to Agenda 2063, the D4GA has initiated the course to champion and promote this blue print of African development by bringing together CSOs across the continent.
