The Civilian Coups In Senegal, Guinea Bissau, And ECOWAS Ambivalence

 By Owei Lakemfa

There are civilian or constitutional coups in Guinea Bissau and Senegal, yet the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, is pretending otherwise. It appears interested only in military coups, not those carried out by its bosses in the Heads of State Summit.

Yet, the ingredients of a coup are present in both countries where the constitution is subverted, the President assumes dictatorial powers, parliament is illegally banned as is the case in Guinea Bissau or emasculated as in Senegal, and the judiciary is under siege to do the bidding of the President.

Gabonese Coup: The Fault Is Not In The Electorate

 By Owei Lakemfa

The scenario has various strands of familiarity. I mean the military coup of Wednesday, August 30, 2023 that removed Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba. An elected African dictator in a well-fortified Presidential Palace finds his palace has become his prison. It is like the fish realising that the water it is swimming in is boiling.

The Praetorian Guards who swore an oath to defend him even if it means losing their lives, are the same arrow head of the coup. The coup leader is, of course, the Head of the Presidential Republican Guard who only yesterday saluted the President, and today, he is the Head of State with the President as his Prisoner-in-Chief.

In Senegal, The People Have Foiled A Constitutional Coup

 By Chidi Odinkalu

On July 3, 2023, Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, in power since 2012, publicly renounced his aspiration for a constitutionally prohibited third term, sparking asynchronised outbreak of ostentatious back-slapping. Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan, convener of the impressively-named, West African Elders Forum, WAEF, fired off a letter describing Macky Sall as a paragon of “sacrificial leadership”. Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, was full of “admiration for statesmanship which privileged Senegal’s interests.”

Describing President Sall’s announcement as an act of “courage, humility, and deep faith in Senegalese democracy”, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima, claimed that he had told her in confidence two years ago that “he was not going to run for a third term but that he would announce this towards the end of his term.”