It is no news that the Gabonese President Ali Bongo has been overthrown by the military and a transitional head of state installed.
This edition of Weekly Top News will look at the failing democratic institutions prompting a wave of coups and anarchy.
The compromise by these institutions meant to protect democracy is somewhat fueling attempts by the military to return to the days of coup d’états and dictatorships.
For several months we have been discussing the coups in West Africa and the state of democracy in Africa. We are expanding the scope of our discussion in this edition.
Some schools of thought have opined that institutions including electoral bodies, and the judiciaries are allegedly used in most cases by incumbents to manipulate election results and electoral tribunals.
Also, African leaders and the West are quick to condemn coups but silent over issues of power grab, and constitution amendment to allow a third term as well as long stay in power.
Let’s remind you of some African leaders that have been in power for a long time in Africa:
Gabon’s neighbour Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by Teodoro Obiang for 44 years now same with Cameroon ruled by Paul Biya for 41 years.
Uganda is ruled by Yoweri Museveni for 37 years
Eritrea is ruled by Isaias Afwerki for 30 years
Congo is ruled by Dennis Sassou for 26 years
Rwanda has Paul Kagame still the president and has been in power for 23 years
Teodoro Obiang | Equatorial Guinea | 44 years (since 1979)
Ismaïl Omar Guelleh has been the president of Djibouti since 1999 and has been there for 24 years now
In Togo, Faure Gnassingbe has continued the legacy of his father and has been ruling for 18 years now since 2005.
Our discussion will look at why the wave of coups in the region and what signal is being sent to these African leaders who have been in power for more than 20 years.
This edition features Austyn O. Aigbe, Former Programs Director at Centre for Democracy Development and Aaron Weah, a member of the Africa Transitional Justice Network and adjunct lecturer at the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation (KAICT), University of Liberia.
