While addressing the Second ECOWAS Parliamentary Seminar in Winneba in the Central Region of the country, on Friday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo called on the member states of ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) Parliament to speak against the extension of presidential term limits by some leaders to strengthen their grip on power.
According to him, “these actions tend to result in discontent amongst the populace, which creates fertile grounds on which military interventions disingenuously feed.”
The President further said adherence to his advice will ensure that “we (West Africans) do not give up when it comes to guaranteeing the democratic integrity of our respective countries.”
We entreat our cherished readers to read our lead story today for details of what the President said at the Winneba seminar.
We are glad about his suggestion because we have always opposed the swift reactions of ECOWAS to military takeovers in the community in which the refrain is that the military juntas should reverse their actions or hand over in the shortest period possible time without chastising those erring heads of states whose irresponsible moves caused the military takeovers.
But we are particularly elated about the current comments from President Akufo-Addo because they constitute a clear opposite of his earlier stance against military takeovers.
For instance, we remember him asking West Africans to reject all forms of military takeovers within the ECOWAS jurisdiction following the coup in Niger in July this year without him reprimanding his erring peers within the jurisdiction for their roles in causing such takeovers.
We can recall that following the Niger coup, we wrote an editorial on July 28 with the headline ‘Don’t condemn coups; stop them’, in which we opposed President Akufo-Addo’s stance and other such comments from sources like the African Union and even the UN.
We think we did our best with that short piece to provide useful information intertwined with our comments and a critical question, which itself is pregnant with unending comments.
We reproduce a paragraph in that editorial to prove our stance on recent coups in the sub-region: “Against this background, those condemning the coup in Niger or have condemned the recent military take-overs in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso must pause and ask the question, “Why are coups failing to fade out in the West African sub-region?”
As an objective paper, the Ghanaian Times will not fail to condemn when the situation calls for it; neither shall it withhold praise or commendation for those whose acts and comments will push the national, sub-regional, continental and global good.
Today, we want the whole world to read that what President Akufo-Addo is saying is not so much news to us because that has always been one of our expectations – that ECOWAS leaders themselves should do peer review and fix the political hiccups to ensure constitutionalism that supports good governance.
Thus, we fully support the President’s suggestion that the ECOWAS Parliament must speak against the unconstitutional extension of presidential term limits by some leaders, and also propose measures to anchor democratic and republican values, both at the level of political elites and citizens of the community.
The West African sub-region is already bedeviled with hardships uncomparable to those elsewhere, and these are worsened by avoidable political chaos or upheavals caused by self-centred and inconsiderate elected leaders and their associates.
We hope the ECOWAS Parliament would see the wisdom in President Akufo-Addo’s suggestions and act to save the sub-region from political turmoil that claims lives, disrupts economic progress and undermine the socio-cultural lives of the West African peoples.
