25 June 2009
analysis
Niamey — Niger's national bar association has warned that the ruling party's proposed constitutional referendum to allow President Mamadou Tandja to stay on beyond the 10-year limit - deemed unlawful by the country's highest court - amounts to an illegal takeover of power.
"Talk from the country's leaders [of changing the constitution] constitutes not only potential crimes punishable by law, but are also threats to peace and social stability," the legal association wrote in a 17 June statement.
As of 23 June, the army has started patrolling in the capital of Niamey after 18H.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has threatened Niger with economic sanctions if it behaves "undemocratically", said on 23 June it has received assurance from Niger's prime minister that the rule of law will be respected.
"It is impossible to pledge constitutionality while planning an unconstitutional vote, "said Laoual Sayabou, national coordinator of a coalition of human rights and democracy NGOs.
The constitutional court's decisions are legally binding under the existing constitution, which also prohibits changes to the presidential term-limit. Sayabou told IRIN the president's supporters have said President Tandja could take "exceptional measures" to run the country, granted under Article 53.
But this would require approval of the parliament, which Tandja dissolved on 26 May.
Chris Fomunyoh, senior associate for Africa and regional director at the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), told IRIN mounting challenges to the constitution will inevitably turn violent. "The risk of conflict is imminent," he said. "I do not see a peaceful exit for [President] Tandja if he pursues this authoritarian path."
Even though the military has declared neutrality during the referendum debate, NGO coalition leader Sayabou said a military coup is possible given Niger's history of authoritarian military rule. "To restore democracy, elements of the military could carry out a coup d'état."
Sanctions
NDI's Fomunyoh said Niger can ill-afford a donor backlash or ECOWAS sanctions. "Niger is a landlocked country that cannot endure ostracism."
Along with ECOWAS the UN, the French government and the International Trade Union Confederation have also called for Niger's return to constitutional order.
The desert country is near the bottom of a 2008 UN ranking of living conditions around the world. The infant mortality rate was 129 per 1,000 live births and less than a third of the population was literate in 2006, according to government data.
Democratic dispute
A civil society member and former government minister who requested anonymity told IRIN the country is following the rule of law to oppose a new constitution - for now - citing protesters applying for permits to demonstrate, union leaders seeking court permission to order a national strike and then cancelling the strike when it was not granted and entrusting the referendum question to the courts.
"We have worked so hard to grow this fruit of democracy," said the ex-minister who served 10 years ago under President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara. "We do not want our democracy building to be in vain."
Apart from a demonstration that turned violent in June in the southeast Dossa region that resulted in gunfire, looting and several injuries, opponents of constitutional change have mostly respected the law, NGO coalition leader Sayabou told IRIN. "However, there is the risk that violence will spread if the referendum is held," he said.
NDI's Fomunyoh told IRIN referendum opponents have thus far been "smart" during the constitutional controversy. "Referendum opponents have taken their fight to the courts. [President] Tandja is on weak grounds legally... and it will be difficult for him to persist on this track and emerge with the legitimacy he will need to govern."
But ruling party spokesperson Ibrahim Hamidou told IRIN a referendum is democratic and that a new constitution would have widespread support. "The previous constitution was adopted during a tumultuous period following a military coup. It was adopted under violence and pressure. This way, the will of the people can be expressed."
The people's preference will be made known before the scheduled vote, said NGO leader Sayabou. "The country will rise up and will not allow this vote to take place. It would be a betrayal to our fight for democracy and rule of law to do otherwise."
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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Threat or no threat of economic sanctions, let the good people of Niger decide what is best for them. For my brethren up there in Niamey, all you need do is to look south of the border to see what the western-style “democracy” has done for the copy-copy “yessir-yesman” Nigerians. If you think that Mr. Tandja has the wherewithal to deliver quality leadership until he can adequately educate the public & politicians, alike about the principles of democracy, rights of the led and the responsibilities of the leaders by putting the public first, and about the electorates picking the right leader from a multitude of candidates with credible agenda and ideas plus the capacity to deliver & continue building the nation, precepts by precepts, from where the incumbent has stopped, then, by all means keep Mr. Tandja. Your future is in your hands not in some foreign tin-gods that do not have the best interest of your common folks at heart but prefer their own lackey that would sell your assets for peanuts while their choice of your leader wouldn't mind turning the guns on the locals that stand in its way so as to keep the spigot open for the West’s consumption. Good luck!
Who made Mamadou Tanjda lord over Niger? Are you telling me that this man is the only person in that country that has brains and therefore ordained to lead his people to the promised land? What has he achieved in 10 years that should make him think that he alone has the answer to what the people of Niger need?
Your analysis runs hollow and can only come from somebody who does not believe in the rule of law.
The Western democracy is not perfect, neither is it without its shortcomings, but it is the best model of how people are governed. With practice comes perfection, and all those countries who have been practicing it for years are gradually perfecting the art of governance, and not creating tin-gods as we see in almost every country in Africa, with the exception of a few.
You cannot also take European donors to task for voicing their displeaure at the precedence that this man wants to set in Niger's body politics, and they have every right to threaten to withhold aid to that poor country if he does not play ball. Afterall, he who pays the piper, calls the tune.
We must look deep within ourselves and ask ourselves if we are not capable of doing anything right, especially with the art of governance.
Mamadou Tandja is on the wrong path and all right thinking persons both far and near must condemn him in no uncertain terms for his power play.
That is the same logic used by the woefully corrupt Nigerian politicians to truncate the previous effective administration "...who made Obasanjo Lord over us?" "...is he the only one that can deliver quality leadership?" Well, Nigerians now know better that they should have kept what worked instead of this major disappointment. Too late to go back now as more years are been wasted on mediocrity. I won't be surprised if "Prince Charles" of Africa is a politician that has been smarting to lay his sticky-palms on a juicy political job so he too can chop a little at the expense of the masses.
“Ignominy” in the eyes of whom? The west? Is that reason the people of Niger should not choose whether or not their leader stays or go. I guess whatever the West says to This Day columnist must be right, the same way they “gbaju e” by bluffing the gullible Nigerians to jettison the greatest leader we ever had in favor of this currently clueless, lazy-bone called “Servant Leader” that has now taken Nigeria back to the stone age (on the excuse that Nigeria will break up by 2015 if power do not go back to the same North that bankrupted Nigeria for 40 ruinous years). Threat or no threat of economic sanctions, let the good people of Niger decide what is best for them. For my brethren up there in Niamey, all you need do is to look south of the border to see what the western-style “democracy” has done for the copy-copy “yessir-yesman” Nigerians. If you think that Mr. Tandja has the wherewithal to deliver quality leadership until he can adequately educate the public and politicians, alike about the principles of democracy, rights of the led and the responsibilities of the leaders by putting the public first, and about the electorates picking the right leader from a multitude of candidates with credible agenda and ideas plus the capacity to deliver & continue building the nation, precepts by precepts from where incumbent has stopped, then, by all means keep Mr. Tandja. Your future is in your hands not in some foreign tin-gods that do not have the best interest of your common folks at heart but prefer their own lackey that would sell your assets for peanuts while their choice of your leader wouldn't mind to turn the guns on the locals that stand in its way so as to keep the spigot open for the West’s consumption. Good luck!
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Active Discussions: Niger's Tandja Tries to Extend Rule