News:
Rt. Hon Speaker Tunis left and chairman of Political Affairs right
February 3, 2022
Chairman of the Community Parliament’s Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior has said the numerous military coups and attempted coups do not speak well of the democratic credentials of the West African sub-region.
According to him the democratic bloc that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) wants to build is now being seen as fragile.
“As strong as we may be, there is still a protocol on non-interference; what we can do is to discourage states from going outside the books from working in violation of the law. Again we have to respect their sovereignty and right which has hurt us a lot”.
In a telephone interview with him in his base at Liberia, he noted that the coups in Mali and Guinea have “hurt us”, and added that the coup in Burkina Faso is a different issue without fear or favor, the Mali situation played up on itself by an action caused by the late former President, same as Guinea who hijacked the constitutional and democratic process, hence the outcome.
Mr. Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior, however, noted that while condemning the military takeover, a serious attention should be given to democratically elected Presidents who change their constitution to elongate their stay in power.
And added that in the case of Burkina Faso he is happy that there has been some engagement as a team was dispatched by ECOWAS, the Africa Union (AU). “We await the outcome, we would begin to hold discussions”, he emphasized.
“The situation right now is disturbing because we have three coups and three different reasons for them; that in Mali where we had the president trying to undo the outcome of the parliamentary elections, the Community Parliament dispatched a parliamentary mission to Mali led by Mahama Ayariga. Whiles in Mali, a coup took place. Then we have to arrange evacuation; then followed by Guinea. There were envoys from the African Union, ECOWAS former president of Liberia visited there, and even his peers try to discourage him from seeking a third term”.
Again, Tuesday, February 1, 2022 there was an attempted coup in Guinea, which was shocking. “As we speak, there is a ‘red light’ pointing to Niger; there is tension there and the political and security situation in Ivory Coast, same with Togo and Senegal”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com