The Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba, has attributed the increasing frequency of coups d’état in West Africa to economic hardships.
He highlighted that some countries in the region have witnessed coups because leaders ignored calls for solutions to address these challenges.
During an appearance on JoyNews AM Show on May 2, Prof. Atuguba noted that coup perpetrators have indicated specific factors that motivated them to seize power and alter the existing order.
“Coup leaders cite five issues consistently as causing the coup. The first is economic hardship. You see why I am talking about the economy a lot and the debt crisis and the outward-oriented economies.
“If you don’t solve those economic hardships coups are going to happen. Democracy is going to reverse. We are going to live under repressive regimes,” he said.
Prof. Raymond Atuguba also identified the phenomenon of sit-tightism as another factor contributing to the occurrence of coups. He explained that some leaders develop a sense of entitlement and refuse to relinquish power, treating their position as a family possession.
“Sit-tightism is now recognised as a word where a leader sits tied on the seat and refuses to go. That is where Togo comes in. In other words, the situation in Togo is one of the things that ignites coups,” he said.
Prof. Raymond Atuguba also highlighted the closing of democratic spaces as another contributing factor.
He pointed out that in countries such as Ghana, Mali, or Burkina Faso, certain actions by democratic governments can lead to the closure of democratic spaces and sometimes prompt a reaction from the people.
Additionally, he mentioned corruption and violent extremism as factors that exacerbate these issues. He emphasized the need for measures to be taken to address these threats.
“So we need to focus on these five issues. If we want to end the phenomenon of coups. We can’t wish it way. We can’t deal with the five issues by shouting good governance all around the country.
“We have to get to work and address it. The saddest part of it is the evidence appears to be that when a country goes into undemocratic rule or military regime, under a military regime they appear to be doing better economically,” he argued.
Oh no you’re wrong. Yhevoup strange are fighting economic hardship created by instability from terrorist activities. There’s a difference. They don’t enjoy freedom and movement of goods and services is difficult. Essential services like water, medicine and energy were made scarse creating anger. Dumsor for 4 years dud create coups. Stop this vkass the analysis.