Consider coups as crimes against humanity ... With no status of limitation
It is sad to note that, recently, anytime ECOWAS issues a statement condemning a successful or attempted coup in any part of West Africa, some Ghanaians, just like other citizens of West Africa, castigate the leaders of the regional bloc with others going the extra mile by raining insults on them.
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The vituperations take a different turn and reach a higher crescendo when the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS meet, impose sanctions on the regime and demand immediate return to democratic rule.
According to the critics, ECOWAS is fond of just issuing vain statements condemning the coups without taking pragmatic and decisive actions including the use of military force to reverse the situation and serve as deterrent.
Even if ECOWAS has the wherewithal, can this be done without shedding the blood of innocent citizens.
Not Biting
A typical example. On Wednesday July 26, 2023 when news broke that the military in Niger had taken the country’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum hostage in what later turned out to be a coup, ECOWAS issued a statement to condemn that act and called for return to democratic rule.
One said: “This will be the end.
They will come back and give him [the coup maker] 6 months to return to civilian rule citing sovereignty to cover their shameful abetment.”
This is not strange because many have the strong conviction that ECOWAS is a toothless bulldog, this is a perception I do not share in.
Regrettably, just when West Africa was being hailed as entrenching democratic rule in recent years, it is sad that some of its members have started reversing the trend.
As if taught in the same classroom, the plotters go according to one text; they take the President hostage for some time, agree to negotiate for his release and announce a coup.
This is the recent modus operandi of the juntas from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and now Niger.
Sanctions
Coincidentally, after the successful execution of these nefarious acts, ECOWAS places a lot of sanctions including the closure of the land and air borders between the country and ECOWAS Member States and suspends all commercial and financial transactions between it and ECOWAS Member States.
It also goes a step further to freeze the assets of the country domiciled in the Central Banks and Commercial Banks of all ECOWAS Member States; freezes assets of public and parastatal enterprises of the country domiciled in commercial banks of all ECOWAS Member States and then suspends all financial assistance and transactions in favour of the country by ECOWAS Financial Institutions, particularly EBID and BOAD.
In fact, ECOWAS places a travel ban on all the members of the military junta and their immediate family members and also freezes the financial assets of the coup makers and their immediate family members.
It has been realised that most of the sanctions especially the closure of borders and freezing of assets among others meant to put pressure on the coup plotters to reverse what they have done or accelerate the process to democratic rule rather inflict excruciating pain on the already impoverished ordinary people.
Culprits
In the midst of the sanctions, the leaders of the junta live opulently with their families enjoying life without any form of accountability.
Ironically, the regimes of the coup plotters turn out to be worse than the one they overthrow because it is marked with lack of transparency, no accountability, human rights abuse and corruption.
One is tempted to agree with those who hold the view that ECOWAS sanctions and declarations do not have any effect, I partially agree with them because if they did, Niger would not have followed suit.
In most cases, the military officers after enjoying their coups get off the hook, organise some form of sham democratic processes geared at perpetuating their stay in power in what looks like democracy.
In drafting the constitution, they use their surrogates and put in entrenched clause that indemnify them from all wrongdoings.
This is what encourages coups making in West Africa.
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Solution
The best solution in my opinion is for ECOWAS and the Africa Union to champion a stringent regime of punitive measures that will make the removal of democratic governments one of the gravest crimes and unattractive at the forums of both the United Nations and International Criminal Court (ICC).
Firstly, just like crimes against humanity, terrorism, genocide, crime of aggression among others, the United Nations must consider endorsing coups as one of these.
The global body must make it biding that staging of coups, especially removal of democratically elected governments should be such a severest crime that should also not have any status of limitations.
With this, even after 50 years, all those who participated in the coups, irrespective of the fact that they guided the process back to democratic rule, the ICC must apprehend them, investigate their roles and make them face the full rigours of the law.
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This, in my view, will be the end of all coups in West Africa.
Irrespective of how bad a democratically elected government is in a functioning democracy, it is far better than a military regime because they are never accountable.
Military regimes stifle individual progress, stagnate growth of governance institutions and lead to worse economic outlook.