African leaders must address unconstitutional practices as root cause of coup d'états on the continent - Security analyst

A security analyst and the executive director of the Africa Center for Human Security and Emergency Management (ACHSEM), Bill Godson Ocloo has said that African leaders must address unconstitutional practices in their governance systems which according to him, is the root cause of coup d'états on the continent.

"If we are to address the issue of the removal of democratically elected heads of state (governments) by the military, our leaders must also address the issues of bad governance and institutional failure, marginalization of the vulnerable population, and corruption which has crippled the economy of many African countries," he said.

Ocloo was speaking in an interview with this reporter in Accra.

According to him, the recent coup d'état in Niger and Gabon must serve as a wake-up call to leaders of ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) to identify and map out strategies to deal with the imposition of political and economic coup d'état on member countries especially the francophones, by their former colonial masters.

The ACHSEM founder indicated that the removal of democratically elected governments by the military was not the only type of coup being witnessed on the continent, both in the past and in recent times.

He added that political and economic coup d'état, backed by the continent's former colonial masters, especially France, still had interests in the affairs of the continent.

"Forcing all 14 francophone countries on the continent to sell all their natural resources to France is a Coup d'état, France having a military base in Niger is a Coup d'état, forcing the people of these francophone countries to be trained only by France and having French soldiers hold positions in their national army is a Coup d'état. Forcing these former French colonies to deposit 50% of their foreign reserves in France is also a Coup d'état," he indicated.

The ACHSEM Executive Director questioned the rationale behind ECOWAS and AU Security Council meetings and questioned if sittings could address the many security issues the sub-region and the continent were grappling with, adding "These political and economic Coup d'état have had dire consequences on the lives of the citizens of the affected countries with ECOWAS and AU looking on without taking action."

Ocloo called on the leaders of ECOWAS and AU to table to discuss this political and economic coup d'état and come out with strategies and solutions to change the status quo "as no African country is immune to this coup d'état."

He observed that behind such political and economic coup d'état, there were millions of children dying from starvation and going to bed on empty stomachs, millions of African youth without employment, and millions of women dying during childbirth among other socio-economic challenges.

The security analyst said that if the interest of ECOWAS and AU, was truly about Africans, there was a need to look at the global view and have a frank and fair discussion of what was going on in Africa as the carnage happening on the continent is not what ECOWAS and AU was about.

"Leadership is about the people, about creating a better life for the people - but if we allow those who have committed grievous crimes in Africa to continue to create Coup d'état, we must also deal with the aftermath of these political and economic Coup d'état on the continent," he indicated.

He added that military interventions in this crisis were not the best option for restoring democracy and constitutional order to the affected countries.

He called on the leadership of ECOWAS and AU to come together to engage in constructive conversation, and meaningful discussions to see what was ultimately good for the people especially in all former French colonies on the continent as the wave of coup d'états on the continent in recent times was becoming a dangerous trend which needed to be dealt with strategically and diplomatically because "the continent is sitting on a time bomb, waiting to explode."

Ocloo further advised France to take a critical look at its foreign policy on former colonies and to ensure that hope, dignity, and sovereignty were restored to the suffering masses of those countries, adding, "That is the only way to address the growing hostility against France by the masses of these former colonies and prevent these Coup d'état going forward".

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

Click here to start the nomination process for the 2023 GhanaWeb Excellence Awards