Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo says democracy in West Africa is in danger, with the recent incidences of military takeovers in the sub-region and therefore wants leaders to work harder to entrench the principle of democratic accountability to the citizens.
Akufo-Addo said this during a high-level parliamentary seminar on, “The Role of the ECOWAS Parliament, Relating the Challenges of Unconstitutional Regime Change and Presidential Term Limits in West Africa”, held in Winneba, Ghana.
The Ghanian President, while declaring the seminar open, said that despite the considerable progress made by ECOWAS in the areas of democracy, good governance, and the rule of law since the 1990s, the sub-region is at the moment witnessing an imminent decline in democracy, amid economic, political, social, and insecurity crises.
Akufo-Addo, therefore, wants parliamentarians to speak against the extension of presidential tenures by some leaders, to strengthen their grip on power, which results in discontent among the populace and creates fertile grounds for military interventions.
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The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Siddie Tunis, told regional lawmakers to wake up and monitor the implementation of laws and policies in ECOWAS member states.
He said for ECOWAS to meet the expectations of the citizens, parliamentarians must facilitate robust and continuous discourse on the broad issues, aimed at formulating effective solutions to the myriad of crises in the region.
The high-level seminar is put together as part of the performance of parliament’s obligations to determine the cause of military takeovers, regression in democracy, and political instability in the sub-region.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
