THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, which carries the burden of spending billions of United States dollars on failed states and fragile states, has in the last few decades prioritized early warning signals leading to the disintegration of states. The Partners for Democracy & Good Governance (PdG), an alliance and network of regional civil society and pro-democracy advocacy groups, is in line with this preventive strategy. The conglomeration of organizations has told the government of the United States (US), through its embassy near Monrovia, that the current and unabated quests by a growing number of incumbent presidents in Africa to stage-manage constitutional amendments for third-term tenures or more will escalate political tension, re-introduce popular uprisings, civil protests, reverse sustainable development gains, and induce guerilla warfare on the African continent, including the sub-regions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Mano River Union (MRU).
PDG MADE THE formal petition to the American embassy on Friday, October 16, 2020 in Monrovia, seeking the immediate intervention of the United States and other members of the international community as far as the prevention strategy is concerned. PdG is concerned that this unacceptable drive will inevitably serve as a catalyst to intensify instability with unintended catastrophic consequences particularly in sub-Sahara Africa, which includes the ECOWAS/MRU region, and affect approximately over 200 million human population and the regional economy.
THE RIGHTS GROUPING is particularly concerned about the developing scenario concerning President Alpha Conde, Republic of Guinea, and President Alassane Ouattara, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire. They want President Conde to particularly respect and fully comply with Article 154 of the Guinean Constitution, which unequivocally declares that “the number and the duration of the mandates of the President of the Republic may not be made the object of a revision”. “Equally so, we call on President Ouattara to halt his infringement, yield to the potential conflict and warning signs of instability in his country by respecting Article 55 of the new Ivorian Constitution, which prohibits more than two terms of office,” the PdG petition added.
THE PDG PETITIONERS further told the American embassy that “the actions of Presidents Conde and Ouattara, who were once crusaders for democracy and architects of good governance, but now clouded by greed, egotistic quest for perpetual political power to rebirth 21st Century political dinosaurs and dictatorship, are recipe for chaos and instability with potential spill-over effect in the MRU and ECOWAS sub-region”.