Attempts by some West-African leaders to perpetuate themselves in power have been identified as a trigger for political crisis and rising military coup in the region.
Pro-democracy actors in the West Africa region raised this concern at the round table discussion organised by the West Africa Democracy Solidarity (WADEMOS), held in Abuja, on Friday, December 8.
Ahead of the upcoming ECOWAS Head of State Conference scheduled for Sunday, December 10, in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital, WADEMOS converged representatives of over 30 civil society organisations (CSOs) to advocate for term limits for presidents in West Africa.
Participants at the round-table discussion agreed to engage ECOWAS stakeholders at the conference on the need to adopt the provision on the term limits in the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
As parts of it mobilisation campaigns, the coalition which is located in 15 African countries said it would continue to raise public awareness “on the issue of third term, the effect and impact, challenges and opportunities”.
During the session, Prof. David Dosseh, the Coordinator of Front Togo Debout, said it was high time ECOWAS governments institutionalised term limits in order to curtail political crisis and military overthrow of existing governments in the region.
“A situation whereby presidents or heads of states amend the constitution to keep themselves in power is another form of coup d’état”, he said.
Professor Doseh emphasised the need for parliamentarians in the various countries to resist autocratic tendencies from presidents who make attempts to elongate their terms against the constitution.
A statement by Prof. Kwasi Prempeh, the Project Director of WADEMOS, said the coalition of the pro-democracy groups was formed “to push back democratic erosion and advance, defend and reinvigorate democratic norms and reforms in the Sub-region”.
A study published by Afrobarometer, a pan-African research network in 2015 showed that 75% of citizens in 34 African countries favour limiting presidential mandates to two terms
“But in West Africa, efforts to extend presidential terms have been more successful than unsuccessful, with the resulting elections won by the incumbent, especially within the francophone countries”, Prof. Prempeh noted.
