West Africa was thrown into turmoil yet again last week after the military coup in Niger. What has been a normal Thursday afternoon in the capital of Niamey turned sour and frightening for its residents as gunfire raged in the presidential palace, where mutinous soldiers shot their way into the chamber where President Tandja Mamadou and his cabinet were meeting to arrest him.
In the previous year President Mamadou had been the source of upheaval in the mostly desert country. He disbanded the country’s parliament and constitutional court, which ruled against his desire to change the provisions of political term limits.
So it is easy to see why some would want him removed. But in the aftermath of this putsch, what is the future for Niger’s democracy?
The struggle for democracy in many African countries has been a long one, and in reality began many years after the continent’s independence from the colonial powers. Eventually most of Africa’s military ‘big men’ saw the writing on the wall, changing their garb to become civilian rulers to conform to the new norm in African politics – guarding their nascent democracies.
Of course, the military remains crucial in the equation of political stability. And by and large, Africa’s people bought the idea of allowing their khaki-turned-civilian leaders to usher in stability. Niger was no exception: Tanja Mamadou, a former army officer, took charge of the uranium rich country through constitutional means in 1999.
However, reneging on a promise to step down after his re-election, he began to let his achievements in stabilising the country drift by his desire to remain in power. It is this mad ambition that surely inspired the desire for a change of leadership, much as it has elsewhere.
No doubt this development portends danger for Africa’s other nascent democracies: simply put, it revives the desire to effect change through violence. Although the new junta in Niamey has promised a return to constitutionality, history has recorded similar and better statements from other renegades.
And at the same time, another question stands: did the political and economic leverage of Niger’s rich uranium deposits have any influence on their actions?
The fact is that Niger and Africa have suffered a setback with these developments, and the bitter truth is that Niger must now start afresh, despite what gains it may have achieved from 1999 to 2009.
As the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) liaise with the African Union and other international bodies to deal with this mess, all sides should understand how far behind this step will take the continent as a whole. Africa should no longer be an arena for tussle among those who value their own lives and welfare above the people.
And as we keep our fingers crossed, we must call for immediate return to constitutionality and the sanctity of the vox populi.
Ukachukwu Okorie is originally from Nigeria and writes weekly for Metro Éireann. Visit his website at www.olumouka.com
