Macky Sall

When I tuned in to my popular FM station this morning to listen to what was going on in the political realm, I was stunned by what I heard. Another coup in Africa, in Gabon to be specific.
The question that immediately came to mind was, what is wrong with our leaders? In three years, there has been eight coups including this current one in Gabon. It started from Mali, to Guinea then Burkina Faso and now Gabon.
What is sad and unique about these coups is that they all hap¬pened in former French colonies and this raises an eyebrow. The natural question that readily comes to mind is why are they all happening in former French colonies?
A careful observation will also reveal that apart from this curious occurrence of all these coups happen¬ing in French-speaking countries, they are all linked with either dissatisfac¬tion with elections and the results or the way the fight against terrorism has been conducted.
A discerning observer, however will notice that there is more to this seemingly contagious event sweeping across mostly the West African region than just the above reasons. One of them has to do with the tendency of some leaders to hold on to power contrary to the constitution of their countries.
This breeds the grounds of dissat¬isfaction among the populace and it creates a fertile ground for military adventurists who step in ostensibly to right the wrongs but over the years have turned out to be worse leaders than those they overthrew.
There is another factor that cannot be ignored, the lack of action of ECOWAS leaders who look on uncon¬cerned when their colleagues start to violate the constitution of their respective countries knowing the po¬tential consequence of their actions.
We are not talking about a coup in Senegal today because there was a strong public push back against the attempt by Macky Sall to manipulate the Senegalese constitution to enable him run for a third term.
The elephant in the room is the role of the nation called France in all these coups. France has over the years played an ignominious role in the former colonies which has re¬sulted in the spate of coups. France supports and gloss over the evil deeds of many if not all the heads of states of their former colonies, like Gabon.
The Bongo family has taken over the country like their own personal property. France claims it is a bastion of democracy, yet has been looking on for the Bongo’s to rule Gabon like a dictator. After the Omar Bongo era, his son Ali has been rigging elections to hold on to power, including the recent one that has led to the military coup.
It is estimated that every one in three bulbs in France is lighted by Uranium from Niger but power is a huge challenge for Niger. Most of their power supply is from Nigeria, how can any rational person accept this situa-tion, hence the coup in Niger.
If you look at the agreement signed between France and the former colonies you would become very angry about anything French. Among the lot is a stipulation that when the colonies access their own money that has been deposited in France’s Central Bank, it would be given them as a loan at commercial rates.
This is incredible. It is cheating beyond comprehension. No wonder, the people who are mostly the youth in the countries where coups have oc¬curred in the former French colonies, are now agitating for the French to leave their countries.
• The awareness have started dawning on African youth, that our colonial masters especially the French, have not dealt kindly and fairly with our various countries and would there¬fore not tolerate their meddling in our internal affairs again.
• Until our leaders imbibe and demon¬strate real democratic tendencies, I would not be surprised, should we wake up tomorrow to hear that, there has been a coup in Togo.

 By Laud Kissi Mensah