The Undemocratic Acts Of Puschists In Africa (OPINION)
By Isaac Asabor
If an author decides to write a political compendium titled “The Undemocratic Acts of Puschists”, to accentuate the fact that democratic wind has for long been blowing across African continent without being intercepted by military juntas until recently, it will definitely be a book that would chronologically document how coups were rampantly and undemocratically adopted as a method of choice by military juntas in Africa for changing governments, with over 90 occurring between 1951 and mid-2020. During those years, 30 incumbent leaders were peacefully removed from power by their political opponents in elections.
In writing the book, the author would discover that more than half of it would dwell on the fact that military coups were common in Africa between the 1960s and 1990s after independence of most countries on the continent, with the first coup being the Togolese coup d’état that occurred on 13 January 1963, and that such ousters, however, lessened over the years because of mass opposition to unconstitutional change of governments.
No doubt, the entire content of the book would dwell on the bad and ugly aspects of coup de ’tat rather than the good side; if there is any. The reason for this cannot be far-fetched as it is estimated that there have been at least 100 successful coups in Africa in the past four decades, with more than twice the number of coup attempts. Most saliently to be highlighted in the book is that most military takeovers on record were started by disgruntled junior military officers, who were later supported by a few senior officers. Within days or hours they captured power by detaining or forcing the leaders to step down, as in the case of Mali, nor too long ago.
I must confess that I was compelled to write this piece after being acquainted with the fact that the government of Guinea-Bissau says it survived an attempted coup d’état on February 1, 2022, just few days after Burkina Faso suffered the fifth coup in nine months around the greater Sahel. In fact, these upheavals badly colored this African region as the most pronounced center of a global crisis with poor and authoritarian governance breeding extremism and transnational criminality, igniting violence and undermining efforts to build democracies.
In fact, following last year’s military power grabs in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Sudan, the new crises are unarguably highlighting widening risks to security, for the 135 million people of the Sahel region.
Permit me to say that the political compendium may likely arrest the attention of the readers from the first chapter to the last chapter.
Stories that would make the book a masterpiece would cut across reasons the juntas would claim to be behind their undemocratic actions. Concerning Burkina Faso which occurred on January 24, 2022, and being the latest in the series, they would alleged the inability of President Roch Kabore’s government ‘to stem an Islamic militant insurgency’ which has been ravaging the country for some years now, even as they would also say that the military had long complained that they were not given enough resources to combat the insurgents. Therefore, by taking over power, they can give themselves all the resources to do just that.
As for the coup that occurred in Guinea on September 5, 2021, and which was led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a Special Forces commander, the author would not fail to emphasize that the reason given was that there were too much poverty and corruption in the country. Mind you, he will also explain to his readers that this has always been the go-to excuse given by coup plotters in West Africa, and that history has proven, they hardly do anything differently to change the status quo after seizing power.
In the speculated compendium, the idiosyncrasies of coup plotters would be exhaustively treated. The book would no doubt reveal how repulsive the acts of Puschists in Africa, particularly in West Africa are.
It would also do justice to the fact that immediately juntas get hold of power they forget their antecedents and what propelled them to overthrow a constitutionally constituted government and what they variously stood for. We have even witnessed journalists aligning with Puschists in all the inanities they impudently stood for as they easily get incensed when they read any criticism against their paymasters whereas they wrote more acerbic articles than those they are seeing as their enemies when they were practicing journalists. Also, we had those that paraded themselves as civil rights fighters that also aligned with illegitimate government constituted by coup plotters. Given what we witnessed in the past, they automatically made a volte face to the consternation of many of us. What about those that claimed to be labour leaders? Like chameleons, they all changed to become bootlickers. These were the people we once held in high esteem. Even some countries that were highly regarded to be super powers and highly advanced were wont to partner with illegitimate government by forming diplomatic ties with them, and extending aids to them. The author would explain in the book that supports such as highlighted in the foregoing, that there is the tendency for coup to be executed as the perpetrators know that with time their illicit and undemocratic governments would have professional and diplomatic weights thrown behind them.
It is expedient to clarify at this nexus that the essence of this piece is to express my personal opinion, as it concerns West African countries, that in as much as the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), represented in all member countries, that it is not enough to condemn coup whenever it is executed in any part of the region, demand a quick return to constitutional governance. Rather, the leadership of ECOWAS should also be demanding good leadership from governments across the sub-continent. Political experts and observers alike are of the view that if ideal democratic governance and people-oriented government is in place that the thought of planning a coup will not arise in the first place to overthrow such government as consensus will not be reached between the planners, and more so as the people will troop to the streets to oppose such undemocratic move. Aptly put, ECOWAS and AU should at all times reprimand inept and clueless presidents or heads of state in the continent, and sub-continent; they should not wait until it happens before they begin to recommend what can in this context be called “Medicine after death”.
