What African Leaders Must do to Avert Military Takeover – NDA Professor, Usman A Tar

What African leaders must do to avert military takeover —NDA professor Usman A Tar

A professor of Political Science and Defence Studies at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Usman Tar, is also the Director of the Academy’s Centre for Defence Studies and Documentation. He is a member of the Board of Social Science Research Council’s African Peace-building Network (SSRC/APN), New York, USA. He was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations and Director of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Kurdistan-Hewler, Northern Iraq. He speaks with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on the endemic state of military coups in Africa and how the sit-tight presidents in the continent and the African Union and ECOWAS can rescue the deteriorating situation.

In the last three years, there have been seven military coups in Africa. What do you think is giving rise to this successive coup in the continent?

The reasons we have the coups, in my view, are internal and external. We have political, socio-economic, and class issues. The political class in most African countries seems to have failed to deliver the dividends of democracy. Liberal democracy by its very nature is also known to be very good in terms of holding leaders accountable, because of the challenges of elections. In most parts of Africa, elections are not properly conducted; the legal framework is not followed by the latter and the elite in their desperation sabotage and undermine the electoral process just to be in power. This gives rise to a gross competition for power among them and those that can win power at the end of the day try to use their positions to sustain themselves in power. And many leaders too have usurped the electoral process to remain in power for too long. African leaders like Bongo, Kagame, Museveni, Biya, and many others have remained in power and clandestinely abused the electoral process to remain in power for years. So the political system, the way it is being run, seems to have failed. And people have been keenly watching. As a result, votes can no longer count and the electoral process is flagrantly abused, monetised, and commoditised.

At the socio-economic level, democracy seems to have failed. For those countries that are democratic and those seen as despotic, the governments seem to have failed in socio-economic development; poverty is endemic as people cannot hold onto their livelihood. In addition to this, the sectoral developments have also failed. In education, health care, transportation, and security, the same failure has been recorded. So, this has made many people angry. And the military, being part of the society, have been watching all the incidents. The military officers too have also felt the damaging consequences of the political and socio-economic failures of the government. And don’t forget that the military officers we are talking about are the young ones who are very restless in holding leaders accountable and making the system work. And when you look at it from the class dimension, the military is seen as being part of the elites of African countries. And history has shown that whenever the political elites (the politicians) fail, the military does come to the rescue of the teeming masses. But when they come, they stay in power. So it looks like the military rule of the early 1980s and 1990s is coming back. I think these are some of the issues internally.

Externally, there has been external influence of the Francophone. We all know the role played by France in the local politics of Cote’dVoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and other countries. And it appears that most of these coups are taking place in Francophone countries. This may be because France’s policies in African countries seem to be either working or derailing. We learned that in some of the countries, France funded the coups, but this remains an allegation. But in some of the countries, the coups have been against perceived imperialism. But anyhow, we are looking at a response to or a demonstration of neo-colonial influence on the continent. And don’t forget that as part of the external factors, we have new players that are coming into the continent in terms of Russia and China. So, one won’t be surprised if some of these coups have a strong back-up from the new entrants like Russia.

However, some experts have argued that the military interventions that we have been having in Africa have been freeing the countries from French neo-colonial shackles. How true can this be?

Well, to some extent, there can be arguments for that. This is because, in some of these countries, the influence of France is largely embedded. And France has funded and supported despots on the continent for too long, in some cases, up to 50 years as in the case of Gabon. In Cameroon, Biya has been in power since the early 80s and he is well in his 90s now. He has been ruling the country from Switzerland. I think these are all externalities of the deep-seated nature of France’s neo-colonial rule in Africa. One will not be surprised that these coups are a reaction to the need to upstage and uproot the shackles of French neo-colonialism. But let’s not forget that most of these coups are in the Francophone countries. We are yet to see these coups taking place in Anglophone and Saxophone countries. While the possibilities of this may be certain shortly, we only hope that the African leaders will sit up and put their houses in order, so that these spiraling coups will be curtailed, because there is no way military coups can replace democracy. So far, democracy has remained the best form of governance. A military coup is leadership by coercion. So, it cannot be the final solution to Africa’s problem. We just need a democratic system that will be rooted in good governance. However, I believe the military coups were short-term reactions to French imperialism in Africa. But they are not the sustainable solutions to Africa’s problem.

But when you look at the efforts that have been made so far by ECOWAS and the African Union, is there any possibility that another military coup will not occur soon on the continent?

Well, if the regional and economic projects sit up and if the African Union and continental bodies also sit up, I think we will find the solution to the problem. I believe what is needed now is for the African leaders to sit down and fix the political and economic malfunctioning system and also fix the social contracts. This is because government and state relation is a social contract. But this contract seems to have collapsed in most African countries. The onus then lies on the leaders and the elites to sit down and make sure that the people are happy with the system. The leaders must ensure that the system works because democracy requires dividends. It is expected that in a democratic system, the people should have a feel of the dividends in terms of tangible economic developments and security of lives and properties. If these can be guaranteed and provided for the poor masses, I believe these endemic coups will be curtailed.

Recently, the Cameroonian, Rwandan, and Ugandan governments carried out some military reshuffle, which many people have described as some kind of panic move in reaction to the recent coup in Gabon; do you see this as an effective measure to prevent coup from happening in their countries?

Yes, truly, some countries have carried out purges of their very senior military officers. We are talking about Rwanda, Cameroon, and Uganda. They have already retired hundreds of their very senior military men. But I think they are getting it wrong. This is because most of these coups were carried out by young officers. So we can see panic. But it is normal human nature, even if it is not a sustainable solution to the problem. I think one of the solutions is to find all means to curb sit-tight syndrome in Africa. It is a situation whereby leaders, even when they are democratic, will amend the constitution and neglect the constitutional process to remain in power for as long as it takes. Even when some of these leaders have become physically disabled and imbecile, they still want to continue to rule.

So instead of the panic moves and entrenching good governance, what other solutions do you think African leaders should consider to save their heads?

I think they have to consider consistent dialogue and deliberations, carrying their people along and creating channels to get well-articulated and patriotic public opinions. And they should also practise inclusive governance and make sure that democracy works for their people. They should stop creating situations where elections become a laughingstock in their countries. This is because coups happened after the coupists had surveyed the public opinion, including the sentiments and frustration of the people. Any country where the people’s opinion is ripe will be a fertile ground for coups. So if development is made to happen in real terms for the people, there won’t be public outcry. So, in the short term, African leaders need to sit up and develop a sustainable solution to the endemic poverty and unemployment of their people, among other problems. With this, I believe the problem will be curtailed, especially if they dialogue among themselves economically, politically, and in every other capacity.