Uche Anichukwu
25 October 2009
analysis
Lagos — The mechanisms put in place by nations to protect and further the frontiers and interest of democracy under the auspices of their various international and sub-regional organisations is still based on the fact that democracy, despite some inherent limitations, guarantees the greatest good and freedom for the greater majority of people around the world. Whereas good governance may not happen in all democracies as is the case in Africa, democracy is nevertheless a basic foundation stone for good governance and sustainable development.
But the truth is that these mechanisms do not necessarily translate to democracy unless they are given teeth by way of enforcement. For instance, Article 30 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union also known as the Lome Declaration clearly states that "governments which shall come to power by unconstitutional means shall not be allowed to participate in the activities of the Union", while the ECOWAS Protocols relating to Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peace-Keeping and Security and also the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance are unfriendly to unconstitutional takeover of power. Yet Africa has continued to groan under the weight of coups, the transmutation of military juntas into civilian regimes, and penchant by even elected civilian leaders to perpetuate themselves in power, usually through the manipulation of the constitution and institutions of democracy. The consequences have been unpalatable- avoidable wars, aggravation of poverty and human suffering. In the West African sub-region, Liberia and Sierra Leone where peace and democracy were restored at great human and material costs, though global reference points on the crises and conflict management and resolutions capacity of ECOWAS, remain typical examples of man-made political, economic and human tragedies.
Today, the sub-region is in global news again for the wrong reason as it faces a regrettable rehash of its better forgotten history in Niger Republic and the Republic of Guinea. In Niger, President Mamadou Tandja who is at the twilight of his constitutional second tenure in office totalling 10 years is intransigently pushing through a tenure elongation agenda that has resulted in him forcefully disbanding Niger's apex court, the Constitutional Court as well as the Niger National Assembly in retaliation for their opposition to his unscrupulous agenda. He has further held an opprobrious referendum against the provisions of the Constitution of Niger and basic democratic benchmarks. He has even gone ahead to conduct a fresh parliamentary election obviously to recruit "yes-men" to doctor Niger's Constitution to suit his caprices, even against the terse resolution to the contrary by the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government. In Guinea, the Captain Moussa Camara led military junta which forcefully took over the reigns of government at the death of former civilian President Lansana Conte against the letters of the Constitution on succession, prides itself as the National Council for Democracy and Development, but has continued to attract international embarrassment to the sub-region by its brazen disrespect for human rights, especially the September 28, 2009 gruesome massacre of over 150 harmless protesters and the rape of female protesters in Conakry.
Interestingly, unlike in the past, ECOWAS can be said to be more resolute this time in its commitment to the principles of democracy and the rule of law and its rejection of unconstitutional accession to or maintenance of power in line with the region's protocols and relevant AU instruments. The Authority of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Governments which recently convened the 37th Extra-Ordinary Summit took decisive steps on both crises. Among far-reaching decisions reached by the apex decision-making organ of ECOWAS were the imposition of arms embargo on Guinea and support for the UN Secretary-General's decision to establish a Commission of Enquiry into the September 28 massacre in Conakry. But perhaps the most assertive decision on Niger is the total rejection of the August 4th referendum and the non-recognition of the 20th October Parliamentary Elections if the President went ahead to hold it as he eventually did. True to its threats, ECOWAS has even suspended Niger Republic for daring to flout the directive.
But even before that, the ECOWAS Parliament had also given utmost legislative attention to the impasse, setting up of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Political Situation in Niger led by its First Deputy Speaker, Senator Ike Ekweremadu to mobilize collective actions towards restoring constitutionalism in Niger Republic. The Parliament had also convoked Extra Ordinary Sessions during which it passed critical resolutions which partly guided the decisions of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of States and Government.
Despite the recalcitrance of the regime in Niger and Guinea, steps taken by ECOWAS so far remains highly instructive, especially from the standpoint of setting practical precedents on the total unacceptability and intolerability of military coups and self-perpetuation in power by elected leaders which have become the twin infamy of the sub-region and the bane its democracy and development. It is a fact, that the political crises in Guinea could be directly traced to the continued hold to power by the late Lansana Conte who ruled the country for over 24 years till his death, first as a military ruler, then succeeding himself as a civilian president. The political history of Niger is not even different. So, the ECOWAS stand also serves as an instructive message for some of her Heads of States and Governments, especially those of them whom set the examples Captain Camara and President Tandja is following.
Having taken these commendable steps, the major challenge before ECOWAS now is to sustain the pressure on both rulers to bring Guinea and Niger Republic back on the track of democracy. Such obstinate dispositions by Captain Camara of Guinea and President Tandja of Niger who spited ECOWAS to go ahead with a kangaroo parliamentary election must be matched with even greater resoluteness and concrete steps to restore lasting law, order, and democracy in the two countries. ECOWAS should begin to invoke stiffer penalties and mobilize collective global actions via the African Union, European Union, United Nations, etc to save these two nations from a repeat of the human tragedies in Liberia and Sierra Leone and to help the sub-region in general to redirect its collective energy to development rather than dissipating them on wars and crises.
Anichukwu wrote from Abuja
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
