President Akufo-Addo, has disclosed that coups in African countries have never been and will never be durable solutions to Africa’s political, economic and security challenges.

According to him, even though it has taken a long time for a consensus to emerge in Ghana, and, indeed, in Africa, the democratic form of governance is preferable, “we should not take it for granted that everybody has accepted democracy as the preferred mode of governance”.

Addressing a gathering at the African Union Peace and Security Council Forum on Unconstitutional Changes of Governments in Africa, President Akufo-Addo indicated that there are those who “hanker after authoritarian” and personal rule because they claim Africa is underdeveloped and democracy is cumbersome. He noted that there are some individuals who are of the opinion that countries need to get things done in a hurry and as such seek short-cuts to office to exercise power without limits. Additionally, President Akufo-Addo revealed that there are also a different category of people who have no respect for the “free choices of our sovereign people” because they do not accord with their “so-called” ideological preferences.

“Our unity and resolve should send a clear message to coup plotters that coups have never been, and will never be durable solutions to Africa’s political, economic and security challenges. Statements condemning coups alone without corresponding action will, however, achieve little or nothing, as witnessed in recent times. This problem requires collective agreement, effective deterrence, bold action and, equally important, adequate preventive measures”.
President Akufo-Addo

Factors fuelling coups in African countries

Following this, President Akufo-Addo noted that African countries still have some work to do to convince people, who incite coups, that everyone is safer under democracies. Citing data from the 2019 Annual Risk of Coup Report, President Akufo-Addo expressed that Africa has experienced more coup d’états than any other continent, with thirty percent of all coup attempts on the continent having occurred in democracies.

“As current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States, I have witnessed directly the devastating effects that coups d’états and attempted coups have had on the region. There have been at least three such occurrences in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, and an unsuccessful attempt in Guinea Bissau. As some of you may know, the AU and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs), such as ECOWAS, have identified a myriad of factors underpinning unconstitutional changes of government”.
President Akufo-Addo

Per the AU Peace and Security Council, President Akufo-Addo revealed that the factors which influences unconstitutional changes in government include deficiencies in governance, political greed and mismanagement of diversity. He further emphasized that failure to seize opportunities, marginalization, human rights violations, and unwillingness to accept electoral defeat, manipulation of constitutions and their revisions through unconstitutional means to serve personal narrow interests have also warranted such unconstitutional changes.

President Akufo-Addo emphasized that “unconstitutional regime changes retard a country’s growth”, insisting that the reappearance of coups in Africa, in all its forms and manifestations, must be condemned by all. This, he explained, is because it undermines the collective bid to rid the continent of the menace of instability and unconstitutional changes in government, as currently defined by the frameworks enshrined in the Lomé Declaration, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

The President insisted that some foreign entities regard coups in African countries as a means of enhancing their regional ambitions. As such, he noted that they engage in all sorts of disinformation campaigns in a bid to disparage the authority of democratically elected governments and instigate opposition protests against incumbents.