In the last 4 weeks, there has been two different reported Coup D’etat in two West African Countries (Mali and Guinea Bissau). Can we say that elected government officials under the democratic set up in Africa are failing in their responsibility as far as good governance is concerned?
Or should we say that there is something fundamentally wrong with the strategy of governance in Africa?
Pd
If the foundation be destroyed…
A quick look at the history of democracy in the countries affected by the Coup D’etat and other states experiencing shaky democracy reveals a FAULTY foundation. From what obtains on ground, these African states run a very expensive government at the expense of their citizenry.
While the claim of the military for staging a coup is being touted as a palliative to the situation at hand, it is noteworthy to declare it unholy.
Nevertheless, one can not but highlight the actions and in actions of the governments of the day in both states as incapable of delivering the expected dividends of democracy.
It is now in the hands of the citizenry of the concerned states and the A.U. to demand a return of power to the people and not in Camouflage.
Ogbodo Chinedu M.
Yes, our leaders need to wake up. Recent events in
Mali and Guinea is a sign that our leaders need to do more now than ever.
People are tired of false promises and politicians who are self centered and do not care about the people they represent.
We need to see more action than the talking; until then our elected government officials are failing in their responsibility. Nevertheless, their failure does not justify Coup D eta.
blessingjames
Yes, on my part i think most African leaders are self-centered. They make all the promises they can to gain the confidence, trust, and votes of the masses, thereafter what they do in the office is none of our business. If the truth must be told, why the emergence of a coup d’tat now in the present state of the countries in question? A.U has done within its power to keep all African countries bound by its treaty in unity, special attention should be given to those countries.
mbonu chinedu
Before now, I use to think that Military Coup d’eta have been a thing of Anachronistic epoch until now. its all the same causal factors that characterize African countries and indeed the third world countries that has resulted to the reminiscence of this tsunami in our African milieu.
The mistrust due to malfeasance of our leaders by the people; the detach of these leaders from the people ; the wanton and unbridled use of power against oppositions; protean policies and programs that does not translate to useful praxis and improved conditions of existence; the perfidious and ignominious looting of collectively owned wealth, the list is in exhaustive.
Let me not be a Harbinger of doom, the truth is this, there are several ways people disenchanted with a system give vent to their frustration. Be it Boko Haram, MEND, etc all these point to the level of injustice and inequitable distribution of collective resources. if caution is not taking the wind of coup would start blowing across Africa again.
tortiebere
The elected government officials are failing in their responsibility, the led do not enjoy the dividend of democracy which they bargain for. During campaigns for elections, the contestants come crawling at the feet of the masses and once they succeed in deceiving the people to vote for them they become unreachable.
The failure of these elected officials urges groups to react violently which is not what is expected in the face of such crises, that would have been resolved by means of dialogue.
blessingjames
There’s no gain saying that “Absolute power is power corrupted”, if only the masses of the countries involved in this coup d’etat wil seize the opportunity(cus to me this is an opportunity to make their voices heard) using the media houses, NGOs, groups, and programes like DAS 7, with persistency and consistency no matter how hard the hearts of their leaders be, they’l hear them and grant their request.
Obinna Dike
hi
Obinna Dike
Africa can be salvaged from this ill-wind by active political participation. The masses should drive the policy thrust of the Govt.
nchidieberefrank
Our leaders are the root course of all our problems.they know what we the electorates need but when they get to that position,they see it as an avenue to loot the country economy………….they don’t need to be informed in any order way because they were once like the electorates and they all know what we need…relating this to the present coup,i will say that they only need to satisfy the people so that something of this nature will not repeat its self in this 21ist century..We need God fearing men and not devil incarnates.
Kingsley George
No country likes coups eventhough there have become part of our political tradition and if we hate military regimes, we must chart a course that will steer us away from coups.
The coupist in mali and Guinea Bissau justified their action by saying that they were unhappy with the manner their political leaders handled the affairs of governance.
If we should take our minds back a little and examine the coups that ousted civilian administrations in our political history, we would see a clear pattern repeating itself now. It seems most of our politicians are poor students of history. For instance, when Nzeogwu stuck in 1966, he said ” our enemies are he political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent;………..those that seek the country divided so they can remain in office as ministers,…….those that have corrupted our society and put Nigerian political calender back by their words and deeds.”
When Sani Abacha announced the overthrow of Shagari administration oin 1984, he said ”……………our economy has been mismanaged; we have become a debtor and begger nation………our consulting clinics without drugs…..and equipment………educational system is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Unemployment figures including the undergraduates have reachd embarrassing and unaceptable proportions.” And Abacha gave similar reason while accepting Shonekan’s resignation.
The first military coup in Ghana and the ones in Liberia had similar reasons – politically, economically and socially negligence and atmosphere of uncertainties.
So African politicians should know what to do to avoid coups by delivering the due dividends of democracy like security, employment, food, etc. I urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to handle the Boko Haram insurgency well. Tuareg insurgency in northern Mali, had setted Mali in another part of political history.
Pd
“The real MAN isn’t the one with the best criticism or the one suggesting even without having the tinniest prior opportunity to take weighty people oriented decisions… the MAN is one who knows via adequate preparation, what exactly to do when the chips are even gone!” – J.F. Kennedy (Paraphrased)
As much as it is quite interesting to take our leaders to the cleaners without reservations, it is expedient to note that the leaders (emphasis on political office holders) of today were simply the followers of yesterday.
MORALE: What you don’t have, you cant give. Leadership comes calling everyday… how many are equipped and ready, seriously? #Desplay2012 expectations
Herbert BiCool Bangura
great talks. nice to meet you all through this medium and hope to meet in person. cheers.
timidi digha
The answer to your poser in the the poser itself.
The two Coup D’etat in the last four weeks are without gain saying a sad reminder of and pathetic regression to the dark days of the very unpopular military dictatorship in Africa.
It is so obvious to the blind and audible to the deaf that elected government officials under the democratic set up in Africa have failed times over in their responsibilities as far as good governance is concerned.
A quick glance at uninspiring acts of self-serving governance, egocentric leadership, sit-tight leadership, reckless embezzlement and plundering of common patrimony of states etc. are few inglorious and picturesque acts of our leaders across different African states that unequivocally prove this fact.
Imagine a Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe still in power at 88, Abdulai Wade of Senegal (85), Paul Biya of Cameroon (79), Bingu Wa Mtalika of Malawi, who just died (78), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (77), Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (76), Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika (76), Rupiah Banda of Zambia (75), Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola (71), and Jacob Zuma of South Africa (71). The average age of these African presidents listed above is 75.6 years! These and others like them that I did not mention are those that have ruled their various countries for decades by self-serving policies without any overtly significant changes in the lives of their citizens as far as government-citizen responsibility is concerned. Are these the only brilliant, visionary, purposeful leaders that these countries and others like them in Africa can boast of? Certainly not!
Indeed there is something fundamentally wrong with the strategy of governance in Africa. Needless to say therefore is the fact that it is this kind of situation that precipitates the incoming of the ‘Khaki’ boys of the military who though crude in their own thinking and brute in their style as far as democratic governance is concerned would use the unseriousness of politicians as a ploy to take power by the force coup. This is not to make a case for the very unpopular military rule wherever, in or outside Africa for that matter. The job of the military is to protect the political integrity of every nation and not to rule or lead the nation. So their coming into governance (especially by coup) is by no means acceptable.
The cases of Mali and Guinea Bissau should not have happened if the leaders of those nations were alive to their campaign promises to their citizens. It is about time that our African democratic leaders and her voting populace woke up to their responsibilities of the leaders being re-orientated to know that democracy as it really means is “GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE” and we the voting populace to get involved more actively in the democratic process of voting in young, visionary, credible and pragmatic leaders until then, sad to say is that we all are playing the ‘fools!’
laurelsg
yes, i would say that the elected leaders under the democratic governance in quote are not making any headway in their responsibilities. when our forefather heard the news of in dependency,they rejoiced because to them it was a better tomorrow for their unborn generation. freedom as well to make and enforce decisions without interference from the white man. democracy came ,they welcome it with the view that it will lift our backwardness. it is pertinent to know that the dreams of our forefathers are different from what we are seeing now in several African countries. our own brothers who we give the baton to go up there and lead the way, when they get to the top,they turn back and trample on our heads; very pathetic. they colonize us worse the than the white man did all in the name of democracy and when you try to raise your voice they quench you like a rising smoke from the kitchen of a woman. African leaders have failed in their responsibilities and until they allow the scales on their eyes to fall off, Africa may not seize to encounter violence from within.
laurelsg
lets take Nigeria as a case study, so many things are not right here in our governance. i wouldn’t be surprise to here of a nationwide up rise tomorrow. yet some people squander the funds without looking back, very terrible. look at the case of James Ibori,who could believe that such kind of money was there lying waste yet they come out to us and announce there is no money. we pay huge bills for PHCN services yet we can not boast of power supply in a day. our leaders have failed and are still failing.
Edidiong Vincent Akpan
Yes, everything is wrong with the foundation of democracy in Africa, taking Nigeria as a case study, the system of democracy we are operating now was handed down by the colonial masters, and even before then, Nigeria had a system they were comfortable with in the different regions then, from the North to the West to the south, and even the Presidential system of government we are running now is not working because it is very expensive to manage, for a example, we have the two `federal houses, The Senate an The House of Assembly that takes more than 20% of the country’s economy, the 36 state house of Assemblies and the 774 local governments areas in the country which is still not cost effective. and with all this the citizenry is not getting the best from it. yet it is called democracy ‘GOVERNMENTS BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE’.
The governments of the two countries experiencing coup d’etat are going through this because they have failed in their responsibilities as leaders, were they to be alive to it, and were there to keep to the huge promises made during their campaigns, this would never have happened.
Other African countries should equally be aware, and learn from the sour stories their counterpart are telling.
AFARIOGUN ADESHOLA
The difference between the Military that has taken power by force and the regular politician is just that one uses uniform and the other uses agbada and babariga. (Dress Code differentials)
The other difference is that one takes power by force and the other by cajole and deceit.
In my view, the military and the Politicians are the same, they both make promises but never keep to it, and they both loot our treasury. Each person in power steal money and start keeping for his children, grand children and family members to the detriment of the general populace.
The major problem is the issue with our values. As such, we need value re-orientation and go back to the basics.
Obinna Dike
Youngstar, you could’nt have spoken better. Our leaders have failed woefully. Also there are fundamental issues in African democracy and governance. The average African populace have completely lost grip with the reality of governance.
Why won’t the military strike when those so called ‘leaders’ are busy pilfering our commonwealth. Even the military is hungry. Take a cue from what is happening in the security apparatchik in Nigeria, the men are poorly taken care of. A hungryman is an angry man.
Again, the issue of lacuna existing between the leaders and the led cannot be overlooked. The citizenry should dictate who leads them by that they can begin to drive the policy thrust of the government. There is something fundamentally wrong with electoral system in Africa. Due to the high level of poverty, voters are being swayed financially to vote against their conscience.
Compatriots…its time for us to rise up. We must take our destiny into our hands.
Edidiong Vincent Akpan
Again, the Coup d”etat in Mali and Guinea Bissau is clear picture of the citizens not being satisfied with the system of operation o their politically elected leaders, its rather unfortunate that Democratization that was suppose to help the voice of the common man to be heard and defend their course is now the other way round,
The ‘khaki’ boys whether we like it or not stepped in at the moment of despair of the poor masses to give them the voice and make their stories be heard of how unfair thier democratically elected leaders have treated them and how they have failed to keep to thier promises.
What do we make out of a continent whereby the citizens have become their own government, we provide the basic amenities for ourselves, we provide our water, every household is running a generating system thereby giving themselves light, we now take care of our roads by ourselves. education is just a no go area because their children are not affected by the deteriorating systems in our schools and they are not at risk of being victims of falling dilapidated structures.
There’s just no hope for the common man in a democratic system which is not suppose to be so, So whether through coup d’état. in Mali and Guinea Bissau, be it by MEND and Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria, our democratically elected leaders have failed us
sontel
Generally, when all avenues for self-expression and the expression of grief by citizens are blocked – in Nigeria, teh blockade is through the deaf nature of our “leaders” – people will find an alternative way of expressing their feelings. That’s what is happening in West Africa. In Nigeria, we have outgrown the coup-strategy. This is so because we can – I am not unaware of rigging – change our leaders after four or eight years if we have the patience.
success ekpenyong
its seems to me that as soon as some leaders assume office of responsibility they forget that it is OF the people BY the people and FOR the people… but this is going to be very different soon. they would soon realized that
success ekpenyong
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
John F. Kennedy
for the past 50years Africa still crawls like a child,refusing to realize what caused its previous fall in other not to repeat failures of history,Africa repeats the very same mistakes they made even more than 50yrs ego;while she dances in the shame of flashes of civilization. AFRICA OH AFRICA… your moment has come irrespective of your past, AFRICA i need you to understand that you are still the best even among the rest, you have been raped severally but the shame of your rapers and the pains they will see is at their doorstep, i do not say i have always been right with you but i have pledge my allegiance to see u emerge to the pride and one global destination AFRICA…this is your time darling,its so amazing a lot have been taken from you yet you put hope in the heart of the few that have lost their chances with you saying that i still have so much more for you that i have hidden from the thieves that wanted them for only themselves and their family.AFRICA OH AFRICA this is your TIME
AFRICA HAS HAD ITS TERRIBLE DAYS…DEMOCRACY SEEMS FAR FROM WHAT WE HAVE TO BUT WE HAVE STARTED MOVING AND WE ARE GETTING THERE.
Pd
THERE IS HOPE…. THOUGH!