President Nana Akufo-Addo has expressed deep concern over the increasing number of coups in West Africa.
The President shared his sentiments while delivering the State Of The Nation (SONA) 2024 in parliament on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, emphasizing the destabilizing impact such political unrest have on the country.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted the recent coups in West African nations, including the military takeover in Burkina Faso and the political unrest in Mali.
He voiced his worry about the potential consequences for regional stability, economic progress, and democratic governance.
“There is indeed Mr Speaker a state of palpable anxiety and tension in every corner of West Africa, raising the spectrum of regional instability which we thought have banished. Unconstitutional changes in government in parts of Africa, especially in West Africa through a series of coup d’etat and military interventions in governance testify to an unfortunate democratic regression in the region.
“It is interest of democratic growth that this development is reversed as soon as possible and we in Ghana continue to give maximum support to ECOWAS the regional body of West Africa and the AU,” he added.
In the past four years, the West and Central African regions have witnessed a total of seven military coups, with four of the affected nations being members of ECOWAS, a regional organization aimed at fostering stability and cooperation.
The series of coups unfolded with Mali experiencing a coup in August 2020, orchestrated by a group of colonels against President Ibrahim Boubacar Kaita. In 2021, Mali faced a second military intervention, this time against interim President Colonel Bah Ndaw.
Guinea witnessed a coup in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, and most recently, Niger fell victim to a coup when General Abdourahmane Tchiani seized power in July. Beyond the West African borders, Chad and Sudan also grappled with military coups in 2021.
Since the early days of gaining independence from European colonial rule, West African nations have grappled with persistent political and economic tensions, posing threats to their progress and stability.
In response to these challenges, the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) was established in 1975.
The current members of ECOWAS include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.