By Amin Kef Sesay
West African leaders have bemoaned the decline of democracy and urged stronger action to enforce compliance. They made the call at the second Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum on Wednesday 8th December in Accra, Ghana on the theme: “Democracy and Good Governance in the Context of Complex Crises in West Africa”
Ibn Chambas pointed out that most conflicts in West Africa occurred as a result of poorly managed or frankly rigged elections.
Former Ghanaian President, John Kufour and former Guinean Prime Ministers – Kabine Koumara and Lansana Kuyateh, identified politics of exclusion, constitutional violations/manipulations, bad governance and the integrity and character of leaders as key factors of conflict in West Africa.
Significantly, former President Koroma was commended for respecting the constitutional term limits despite pressure on him to go for a third term.
Former President Koroma called for, “ECOWAS to carve out a way of utilizing early warnings and be bold enough to confronting leaders who are contravening the ECOWAS protocols on democracy and good governance.”
The former President referred to his home country where he said several violations, including the suspension of an Auditor General and the setting up of a tribunal to allegedly investigate conflict of interest at the eve of the publication of an annual audit report, represent a decline in democratic practice.
“Setting up a tribunal to investigate an Auditor General at the eve of the publication of an audit report; the disruption of Parliament and imposition of a Speaker, as well as the replacement of elected Members of Parliament by a court judgment, are not good signs of democratic progress,” President Koroma maintained.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden gathered over 100 world leaders at a summit on Thursday and made a plea to bolster democracies around the world, calling safeguarding rights and freedoms in the face of rising authoritarianism the “defining challenge” of the current era.
Intended to counter democratic backsliding worldwide, Biden said global freedoms were under threat from autocrats seeking to expand power, export influence and justify repression.
“We stand at an inflection point in our history, in my view. …Will we allow the backward slide of rights and democracy to continue unchecked? Or will we together have a vision…and courage to once more lead the march of human progress and human freedom forward?,” he said, adding, “Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. And we have to renew it with each generation.”
“In my view, this is the defining challenge of our time.”
