Monrovia — The Chairman of the ECOWAS Parliamentary Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe has alarmed over the new phenomenon of incumbent leaders perpetuating themselves into power by changing their countries' constitutions in the region.
Senator Snowe is representing Liberia at the ECOWAS Parliament. He is a Senator of Bomi County.
According to him, the new style of politicking by some of these African leaders remains "troubling and unfortunate."
He made these assertions when he appeared as guest on the OK Morning Rush Show on OK FM 99.5 in Monrovia on Tuesday, June 6.
Senator Snowe observed that the new scenario which prompted a third term for Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara is gradually creeping over to Senegal.
It can be recalled that in December 2020, President Ouattara was sworn in as President for a controversial third term, following the deaths of dozens of people in election-related violence and the arrest of opposition figures. The election results in November 2020 showed him winning re-election with more than 94 percent of the October 31 vote, which opposition parties largely boycotted and dismissed as illegal.
He was sworn after Ivory Coast's Constitutional Council formally ratified his re-election to a third term after a tense election that was marred by clashes and an opposition boycott.
Nearly 50 people were killed in violent clashes, while some 3,600 Ivorians fled to neighboring Liberia, Togo and Ghana, according to the United Nations.
But Senator Snowe observed that the change of the constitution in Ivory Coast to suit President Ouattarra is becoming a normal routine in the region.
"The situation in Senegal is very troubling. I was in Senegal in December and held a very big press conference with both the local and international media. We urged the President not to seek a third term mandate. There is this new phenomenon in our region what happened in Cote D'Ivoire, we are suspecting and smelling it in Senegal and we are trying to discourage it."
The new phenomenon
Senator Snowe pointed out that few African leaders are in the habit of calling for a constitution review process through a referendum to perpetuate themselves into power.
He said following a successful constitution review process, these leaders now consider their respective countries as "a new republic", claiming to have a new mandate from to lead their people.
"Before, Cote D'Ivoire had one unit as a legislative branch. Today, they have the House of Senate and the House of Representatives; they had Prime Minister before and today, they have Vice President. They had referendum and they changed those components of the constitution. President Ouattara considered that as a new Republic. Based on that, he sought a third term. In his view, it was his first term of the new republic. Currently, he is serving his third term, but technically he is serving his first term in the new republic."
In Senegal, Senator Snowe disclosed that the tenure of President Macky Sall was for a seven-year period.
But in 2016, Sall government held a referendum, reducing the presidential tenure to five years.
He observed that though citizens of Senegal were happy for the move made by the Sall led-administration, the holding of the referendum to make the country a new republic and create space for President Sall to contest for a third term is not welcoming.
President Sall was elected in 2012 and 2019 respectively.
Already, more than 100 political and civil society groups in Senegal have formed a coalition to oppose a third term for President Sall.
But the Senegalese President has consistently argued that when the Constitutional Council was consulted before the revision, it considered his first term to be outside the scope of the reform. He did not clearly specific whether or not he will contest for a third term in next year's elections.
Senator Snowe further observed that actions being taken by President Sall clearly show that he intends to contest for a third term in the pending elections.
"President Macky Sall has announced that Senegal is a new republic; he has not announced intention to contest in the elections next year. But all of his actions so far, suggest that has interest to contest though he has not announced it formally. So, we went in there in December as Chair of the Political Affairs Committee and urged him not to seek a third term mandate."
Going after political opponents
Senator Snowe further observed that some of these African leaders are also going after their political opponents ahead of pending elections in their countries, following the change of the constitution to suit their third term ambitions.
He made specific reference to the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in Senegal by the Sall led-administration.
Early this month, a court in Senegal acquitted Mr. Sonko on charges of rape, but sentenced him to two years in prison for corrupting youth, disqualifying him, for now, from participating in next year's presidential elections. Mr. Sonko came third to President Sall in the previous elections.
The 48-year-old Sonko, the leader of the PASTEF-Patriots party, has maintained the charges were politically motivated since they first made in 2021 and did attend the court hearing Thursday. He had been accused of raping a massage parlor worker in 2021 and of making death threats against her.
Though a lesser charge than rape under Senegalese law, the conviction for "Corrupting youth," which is defined as immoral behavior or encouraging such behavior of a person under the age of 21 -- his accuser was 20 when he was charged -- disqualifies Sonko from running for office.
Following the ruling, supporters of Mr. Sonko, mostly young people, went on the rampage, attacking government officials and destroying properties. Nine persons are reported dead, including a law enforcement officer.
Fact-finding mission
Speaking further, Senator Snowe observed that prior to the ongoing happening; Senegal had the most stable democracy in Africa.
"Senegal is the only country that has not had a military takeover. Today Senegal situation, we need to nip it in the bud before it goes out of hand."
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He, however, used the medium to disclose that a fact-finding mission from the ECOWAS parliament will be dispatched to Senegal early next week.
Currently, delegations from the African Union (AU) and France are currently in the country holding consultations with major stakeholders.
Senator Snowe said the parliament remains concerned about the situation because, it is not "healthy" for the democratic system across the continent.
According to him, the parliament will hold strategic sessions on how to handle the situation to avoid the loss of additional lives and the destruction of properties in Senegal.
"Because President Macky Sall has not announced his intention, you can't say he wants to run, but he's afraid. We believed that it's (trail of opposition leader) political motivated to be frank. We are hoping that we don't allow Senegal to take a negative turn."
Senator Snowe further disclosed that running for a third term clearly runs contrary to ECOWAS Treaty on Democracy.
He named Senegal, Togo and La Cote D'Ivoire as the only three countries in the region that have refused to sign the Treaty.
"In ECOWAS, at the level of Heads of States, decisions are reached by consensus; they don't vote. So if one country is refusing to take an action, they try to do back-door channels to see how it can work. Those three countries have not signed and we are very concerned about the situation. Liberia was the first to sign. We hope that our region will not move backward. We are very worried about Senegal which is a big country; we have some ECOWAS institutions there; most of the foreign embassies are in Senegal."
