The recent seizure of power by the Army in Niger has once again exposed the power struggle in Africa and the problems of constitutionalism in most countries.

As usual, the African Union and some Western countries condemned the takeover, saying it was unconstitutional. Surely, all democratic and peace loving Africans should stand up and condemn such coups that have become the order of the day on the continent.

But should this mean that the people of Africa just look on when a head of state such as Mamadou Tandja continues to rape or even defile the Constitution that brought him to power in order to rule for life?

In Tandja's case, he won two elections in 1999 and 2004, and was due to step down last December, after 10 years in power. Despite widespread criticism, he pushed through a constitutional amendment scrapping presidential term limits.

He even shut down the national assembly that was opposing his move, saying he needed more time to complete the projects he had started.

African presidents, when entrusted with power and leadership for the first time, hold the holiest book on earth in broad daylight and swear by the living God to uphold and always protect the constitution. What they do once in power is far from that. And the African Union often keeps a blind eye.

But one wonders what should come first, prevention of the disease or cure?

Shouldn't the African Union be trying to prevent such coups from occurring rather than see them coming and then condemn them, and impose sanctions?

One wishes the African Union could work out strong mechanisms of dealing with coup-prone situations.

Every now and then African Union diplomats converge in posh Addis Ababa hotels to discuss what they perceive to be important continental issues, ending with resolutions that in most cases are never implemented.

One wonders why the African Union doesn't, for instance, advise African heads of state on good governance and even set punitive measures for those that rig elections or change the constitution in order to rule forever.

It is a fact that about 99 percent of all military coups in the world take place in Africa today. And almost all the world's longest serving heads of state live on our continent too.

Just the other day, Albert-Bernard Bongo (who became Omar after converting to Islam in 1973) entered the world record books by reigning for 42 years [or is it for life, since it was death that struck and stopped him in his tracks in 2009!].

Even then, his dynasty remains in place since his son is now in the driving seat. Either ours is a condemned continent or there is something I cannot see. Interestingly, whenever an African leader is facing problems at home, colleagues rush to offer support and in unison sing their favourite 'hymn' of non-interference in another country's internal affairs.

Examples of this include Omar al-Bashir's International Criminal Court (ICC) case, Mwai Kibaki after the disputed Kenya elections, and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe unleashing violence on perceived opponents to cling onto power after losing elections. In all these cases, the AU appeared not bothered.

The author is a freelance journalist.