Following the Coup that recently occurred in West Africa’s Guinea, Ghana has been impelled to be watchful.
The Chief Executive Officer of the John Kufuor Foundation, Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has pointed up the need for Ghana’s democratic institutions to wake amid the recent uprising in Guinea, citinewsroom .com reports.
He quoted the recent Afrobarometer surveys conducted by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) that shown Ghanaians’ consent for democracy is gradually waning. Affirming that, this signifies the need for confidence to be restored in a democracy the state practice.
“I think it dangerous to think we are different. We cannot be complacent… We should never let our guards down, we have to continually strengthen our institutions of democracy”.
“If you look at Afrobarometer surveys, it is clear that in recent times, Ghanaians’ support for democracy has fallen. That is an indication that even here, people have serious issues with democracy because it is not delivering the way we thought it would so that challenges our political leaders to bring confidence back to our democratic processes”.
In this year alone, West Africa has been faced with three coups; two successful coups in Mali, and one attempt in Niger heightening concerns of a political crisis and the threats of extremist dispositions in the sub-region.
This has yielded part of the fears that Prof Agyeman-Duah has observed, noting that the sub-region could return to the “terrible years” where the majority of its leaders were from the military if the right models are not put in place.
He, therefore, entreated the citizens to ensure that they make “emerging coups” a “greater concern”.
Soldiers led by the Commander of Guinea’s special forces, Colonel Mamady Duombuoya, 41 on Sunday, September 5, 2021, outed President Alpha Condé and took over reigns of power after about two hours of a gun battle in Conakry.
ECOWAS has since suspended Guinea over the military action.