Just last week, this column centered its review on the decision of the leaders of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to withdraw from the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS. The decision was greeted with mixed feelings and the ECOWAS leadership was quick to state that the withdrawal could not be immediate because the status of the bloc dictates one year for total withdrawal. This is despite feelings expressed by nationals of those three countries in support of their leaders and against ECOWAS. Principally, not many in Niger, Mai, and Burkina Faso can point to the benefits their countries had derived from belonging to the bloc.
Reviewing the development, I raised issues about the founding ideal of ECOWAS and how they had impacted democracy and development in the region. As it is, beyond having a beautiful secretariat in Abuja, the impact ECOWAS makes in the lives of citizens of West Africa is rarely felt. This is because neither movement nor trade in the region is free as envisaged by the Treat of Lagos wherein Article 3 of the aims and objectives it was stated that “the aims of the community are to promote co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of its peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations among member states…”
But one area where ECOWAs has failed, and woefully too, is in impacting the growth and sustenance of democracy in the region. This failure is more pronounced in the inability of the group to bring pressure on any errant member to revert to constitutional order. This, perhaps, is why military intervention in democratic leadership across Africa, has been more pronounced in West Africa. This is to say that there have been more military coups in West Africa than in any other region of the continent. This is irrespective of the ECOWAS Constitutional Convergence Principle which Article 1(b) states that “every accession to power must be made through free, fair and transparent elections”. It also notes in subsection C “zero tolerance for power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means”.
These provisions stand to condemn the military takeover of government in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Gambia. But, there is some deafening silence over the conditions that feed military intervention in democracy in the region. Such conditions, such as abuse of the constitutional term limit and pushing to have a constitutional change that would approve more terms for the President, made it possible for the military to strike in The Gambia. Ivory Coast also faces the same reality. ECOWAS has been unable to find a solution to this problem. It has also not been firm enough to take any bold action to force presidents who so behave to quit. And while it is still sorting itself out over the actions of the leaders of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, Senegal’s Macky Sall presented it with another opportunity to attempt a show of strength.
By postponing presidential elections in Senegal indefinitely, President Sall shows that ECOWAS is indeed very weak and cannot reign in any errant member.
The Senegalese President is 62 years old. He was first elected in April 2012. He has been Prime Minister and President of the National Assembly. This means that he has been president in Senegal for 12 years though he has supervised some of the most devastating protests over poor economy, poverty, and hunger in Senegal. Though he had publicly stated that he won’t seek re-election after enjoying two terms, he postponed presidential elections earlier scheduled for later this month without a mention of a possible new date. Rather, he promised a new national dialogue that would enable the people of Senegal to fashion out a new process that would be transparent and free. Many see this as a plot to hold presidential power beyond his tenure. He was able to do this because he was aware that there would be no consequences.
And, trust ECOWAS. It issued a statement which more or less, nudges President Sall to cling to power. The statement reads: The ECOWAS Commission expresses concern over the circumstances that have led to the postponement of the elections. Also, the bloc appeals to the competent authorities to expedite the various processes to set a new date for the elections. The Commission further urges the entire political class to prioritise dialogue and collaboration for a transparent, inclusive, and credible election”.
With a statement as this, President Sall just received the support of ECOWAS to extend his tenure in office as he had earlier planned. He had planned to contest for another term in office but was prodded to drop the ambition. It is, therefore, not surprising that he had to seek another way of fulfilling his ambition. In doing this, he finds support in ECOWAS asking him to fix a new date for the elections and further encouraging him and political leaders in Senegal to embrace dialogue and “collaboration”. This is typical of ECOWAS –ever unwilling and non-committal in the condemnation of actions that subvert democracy in countries within the region. The reason is not far-fetched. Almost every ECOWAS member state and its leader benefits from one form of electoral fraud or the other to the applause, welcome, fellowship, and camaraderie of ECOWAS.
The fact remains that ECOWAS is speedily failing. It cannot give life to all the idealistic provisions in the Treaty of Lagos and other subsequent charters adopted to make life more meaningful for the poor population in the region. As it is, ECOWAS can only pontificate on paper. It has no way of making a member state feel its impact. For this reason, leaders of member-states will continuously abuse the charters they signed. They all know that there will never be consequences. They also understand that the organisation is best to organise talkshops and entertain its leaders with meaningless papers prepared by consultants that no one implements. It will, therefore, not be surprising if President Sall reschedules the election to be held in December 2025 or afterward. He is in a position to manufacture reason(s) why the election need not be held this year. ECOWAS will only ask for another date.