Within a year or less, the continent of Africa has seen three coups out of which two were successful in Mali and recently in Guinea, which was the most current one whereas the attempted one in Niger failed.
Also, there has been an arbitrary transfer of power in Chad after the murder of their President, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara who was assassinated by members of his personal security guard.
Could the following be the reasons why Coups are resurfacing in the continent of Africa?
• Corruption
The main causes for corruption in most African countries are as a result of the size and structure of government, the nature of the democracy and the political system, the quality of institutions economic freedom, Salaries of civil servants press freedom and the judiciary.
Bribery is prevalent in all these sectors and has become ~ the order of the day in most African countries, such that the culprits are never punished but are rather promoted to different and higher ranks
Bribery and corruption erode the trust the citizen have in their leaders. The same problem occurred in the early postcolonial decades and it’s the same problem we are still facing today.
Most African Presidents are not well equipped to govern their country but rather have the motive of enriching themselves leaving the citizens to fate.
According to Transparency International, the Global Coalition Agencies Corruption, “when the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combatting Corruption (AUCPCC) was adopted by the African Union Assembly in 2003, it was a huge step towards resolving the continent’s serious corruption challenges. Designed as a shared roadmap for member states to implement governance and anti-corruption measures, the convention aims to eradicate corruption in government and business.
Today, 44 out of the 55 member states have ratified the convention, yet there is little information on how well it is implemented in practice. A new report by Transparency International explores this, looking at three important areas: money laundering, illicit enrichment and political party funding, as well as the role civil society and media play in fighting corruption.
The lack of necessary expertise and tools coupled with the limited autonomy of justice authorities are key challenges in fighting corruption across the continent. As a result, most countries have only prosecuted a few officials – in some countries, none at all”
• Poverty and incompetence is a factor often cited as causes for coups throughout Africa even in the early postcolonial decade and it’s the same happing today.
Most elected or selected African Presidents seems not to have knowledge about governance, in the history of most Africa country, almost all their leader’s steal the state money to enrich themselves leaving the ordinary citizens to suffer.