Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to make a Statement on the 24th Anniversary of the passing on of the President of the Third Republic; Dr Hilla Limann which occurred on the 23rd day of January, 1998.
Mr Speaker, Dr Hilla Limann
was born in Gwollu on the 12th of December, 1934 in the then Sissala District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. He was educated at the London School of Economics and at the Sorbonne University in Pari, France before embarking on a career as a diplomat in post- independent Ghana, becoming a senior official in the Foreign Ministry after a stint at Ghana's mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
Mr Speaker, Dr Hilla Limann
was married to madam Dora Yaro, popularly called Mrs Fulera Limann and were blessed with two sons and three daughters.
Dr Hilla Limann was elected
the President of Ghana from the
year 1979 to 1981. He was the
only President of the Third
Republic in Ghana and it was a
brief and politically - unstable interlude of civilian government
in a succession of military
regimes.
Mr Speaker, after a much
publicised campaign and a
round-off, Dr Limann and the
People's National Party (PNP) won the July 1979 elections. Dr
Hilla Limann was sworn into
Office on the 24th September,
1979, marking the beginning of
the only government in the Third
Republic.
Dr Limann was able to put
together a formidable team that
worked tirelessly to turn the
fortunes of the country around.
As at the time of his overthrow
in the year 1981, his government
had achieved a lot in two years.
His government was able to
build the Kpong Dam,
constructed roads and major
bridges, improved aviation and
shipping lines by buying
additional units of planes and
ships.
Mr Speaker, his Government
was also able to end the
economic blockade that plagued
the country before he assumed
power in the year 1979, and
ended the shortage of food and
basic social amenities. The
economy by the year 1981 was
on track, and more could have
been achieved if the coup headed
by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings
had not happened. The 1981
coup cannot be justified because
Dr Limann was not found to
have done anything wrong after
his overthrow. The Government
of the Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC) and
the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) did not treat Dr
Limann as a former Head of
State which accounted for the
family rejecting a state funeral
for him by the then Government
in the year 1998.
As to what the Limann
Administration would have achieved if it had been allowed its four-year mandate can only be subject of speculation. However, one thing is for sure that the 1981 coup headed, by Fl Lt Jerry John Rawlings was a derailment of the progress
Ghana had chalked under the PNP Administration.
Mr Speaker, Ghana needed
strong leadership to face the various crises which had beset it since independence. Dr Limann was a man of unquestionable integrity with unique personal qualities and universally recognised honesty.
In the year 1992, Flt Lt
Rawlings, under considerable pressure from western donors, lifted the ban on political parties and held elections. Dr Limann, uncowed by two years under house arrest, founded a new party, the People's National Convention, to fight them. Rawlings won over 50 per cent of the votes and Limann came a distant third with 6.7 per cent. Although he remained the leader of his party, he chose not to run in the 1996 elections.
Dr Limann remained in active
politics until he died in Accra on the 23rd January, 1998. He received many honours during his lifetime and after his death. In the year 1981, he was honoured with the Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St
George by Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom.
In the year 2003, former
President Kufour's Government divided the then Sissala District
and created the Sissala West
District in honour of former
President Dr Limann. Gwollu,
the hometown and birthplace of
Dr Limann, was made the capital
of the newly created District.
In the year 2010, former
President Mills also constructed
a new Senior High School
located in Gwollu, the
hometown of Dr Limann in
honour of the former President
and named it after him; the Dr
Hilla Limann Senior High
School.
Mr Speaker, Ghana's premier and foremost university, the
University of Ghana (Legon)
also had a hall named after Dr
Limann in the year 2010. The
Hilla Limann Hall was the first
of the University of Ghana
Enterprise Limited (UGEL)
hostel projects to be completed
by the University. It was
inaugurated in July, 2010 during
which the then Vice- Chancellor,
Professor Clifford Nii-Boi
Tagoe announced the decision to
name the Hall after Dr Hilla
Limann.
In the year 2018, President
Akufo Addo's Government also converted the Wa Polytechnic
into a Technical university and
named it after Dr Limann. The
University is now the Hilla
Limann Technical University.
The principles that
underpinned the leadership style
of Dr Hilla Limann on service
with honesty and integrity is
outstanding. As we celebrate the
24th anniversary of his death, let
us remember the hallmark of this
great leader and be ambassadors
of his legacies.
Mr Speaker, may the soul of
Dr Hilla Limann continue to
rest in peace.
Second Deputy Speaker:
Very well. Hon Member for
Nadowli-Kaleo?
Mr Anthony Mwinkaara
Sumah (NDC - Nadowli/Kaleo): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving
me the opportunity to contribute
to the Statement ably made by
the Hon Member of Parliament
for Sissala East; Hon Chinnia.
It is acknowledgeable that in
the short while that former
President Dr Limann lived as
President of this country, he
contributed significantly to the
development of this country in
just two years.
As indicated by the Hon
Member who made the
Statement, everyone could just
guess what his contribution
would have been if he had
completed his four-year tenure
without the military interruption.
However, looking at the short
period that he ruled as President
of this country, it is evident that
he would have contributed
significantly to the development
of this country.
Mr Speaker, as actors in the
political space, as Hon Members
of Parliament and as people of
this country, Dr Hilla Limann
has some attributes that we can
learn and imbibe. Mr Speaker, he
was sincere, honest, a man of
high integrity, and above all, he
was selfless. He served this
country with all the energy he
had at a time where political
takeovers by the military was the
order of the day in Africa and
leaders sought to make wealth
from leadership in taking over
countries.
Mr Speaker, Dr Hilla Limann
was selfless to the extent that
when he passed on, people
described him as having passed
as a pauper. This was attributed
to his selflessness in serving this
country. As a country, have we
honoured him enough
considering the services he
rendered to us? Mr Speaker, this
is a question that we must all
ponder over because as the
saying goes “a country that does not honour its heroes is not
worth dying for”.
Mr Speaker, Dr Hilla Limann
hailed from Gwollu and if one
visits Gwollu today, probably,
the only significant thing that
one may see to his honour as a
former President of this country,
is the Senior High School that
has been named after him. I do
not think that this is enough.
Also, at the Upper West Region,
it is only the Technical
University that has been named
after him and I think that this is
not enough because he served
this country well and he needs to
be honoured more than what has
been done.
Mr Speaker, may his legacy
live forever.
Thank you.
Mr Second Deputy
Speaker: We would now listen
to the Hon Member for
Lambussie.
Mr Bright Baligi Y. Bakye
(NPP - Lambussie): Mr Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity to comment on the
Statement ably made by my
Colleague Hon Member on the
Floor.
Mr Speaker, glancing through
the Statement and listening to
our Hon Colleague, one would
realise that the former President
barely stayed for a year in
Government because having
been elected in 1979, one would
have expected that he would
spend about a year to form his
Government. So, for the
Statement to even estimate that
he chalked these successes in
two years, I think that it rather
would have been one year
because he might have spent
some time to put his government
together. So, for a government to
achieve some of the things that
have been mentioned in the
Statement under two years, then
I think that if Dr Limann was
allowed to work without any
military intervention or coup
d'état, he would have done more than he did during the two years.
As a country, we have all
condemned the military
interruption, but we have to
further condemn any military
intervention in this country that
would take us back in our
development agenda.
Mr Speaker, the Statement
further said that he had ended
some economic blockages and
food shortages and he also
provided social amenities to the
citizenry. So what then would
have been the cause of that coup
d'état? Perhaps it was due to some reasons that we can
speculate. Mr Speaker, I think
that as Hon Members of
Parliament and leaders of this
country, we have to emulate the
attributes that have been stated in
the Statement about our former
President. Mr Speaker, integrity
is of essence, as well as honesty
in leadership. A leader must
have his acts together; he gets his
people to follow him when the
people trust his decisions. The
followers have confidence in the
leader when they know that their
leader is sincere; they would
always go with his decisions.
Mr Speaker, so for us to have
such a person to learn from, then
I think that we all have to make
it a point to exhibit similar
qualities and to achieve his end;
which is that beyond his
leadership, people still recognise
the contribution that he has made
to the development of this
country such that we feel that he
has not been recognised very
well as a former leader of this
country.
Mr Speaker, honesty and
integrity are outstanding
qualities that we all have to
emulate so I would want to add
my voice to that of the Hon
Member who spoke before me,
by calling upon the Government
to turn its eyes to Gwollu and the
entire Upper West Region and
make sure that the selflessness
that was demonstrated by the late
Dr Limann is remembered and
recognised.
Mr Speaker, I also pray for
the peaceful rest of his soul and
all others that have departed.
Thank you so much for this
opportunity.
Mr Second Deputy
Speaker: Hon Member for
Sissala West?
Mr Mohammed A. Sukparu
(NDC - Sissala West): Mr Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity to contribute to the
Statement on the Floor.
Mr Speaker, the former
President, Dr Hilla Limman was
a man of integrity and a man that
many of the young politicians
who are from the northern part of
Ghana really learnt a lot from.
Mr Speaker, being the first
Northerner to have ruled this
country, even though some of us
were not born then, we heard and
studied a lot about his style of
leadership, and this really
encouraged us to venture into
mainstream politics.
Mr Speaker, Dr Limann is
someone whose contributions to
this country the Government
must take a serious note of, and
as the Hon Member of his
constituency, I would want to
urge the ruling Government,
although they have done enough
for his family, to take a special
look at his hometown, Gwollu.
As I speak, if one visits the
hometown of the former
President, nothing there shows
that that particular town has ever
even produced an Hon Member
of Parliament let alone a
President who ruled this great
nation. So, I would want to use
this opportunity to call on the
Government to take a special
look at developmental issues that
concerns Gwollu.
Mr Speaker, as we speak,
most of the people of the former
President's hometown, Gwollu, have to travel all the way to
neighbouring Burkina Faso to
access a health facility. This is
worrying. Nothing has been
done around his grave where he
has been buried for about 20
years. That would have also
served as a tourist attraction for
people to travel all the way to
Gwollu just to look at where the
former President is resting, but
nothing has been done.
Just as my Hon Brother
mentioned, though they have
started, I would want to call on
them - we in NDC were the first to build a senior high school and
named it after the former
President: the Hilla Limann
Senior High School in Gwollu.
Also, the Wa Technical
University is named after Hilla
Limann.
Mr Speaker, I would want to
call on the Government to do
more for the people of Gwollu
and for that matter, Sissala West,
for producing a son who led this
great country.
Mr Speaker, with these few
words, I thank you for giving me
this opportunity and I thank the
Hon Member who made the
Statement.
Mr Second Deputy
Speaker: May I come to
Leadership.
Majority Chief Whip (Mr
Frank Annoh-Dompreh): Mr
Speaker, I would yield to Mr
Paul Twum-Barimah.
Mr Paul Apreku Twum-
Barimah (NPP - Dormaa East): Mr Speaker, thank you
for the opportunity to comment
on the Statement to mark the 24th
anniversary of the death of Dr
Hilla Limann, President of the
Third Republic of this country.
Mr Speaker, some of us read
about him. He was an astute
politician and diplomat. Hilla
Limann, according to the Hon
Member who made the
Statement, did a lot when he was
the President. Indeed, when he
assumed the reins of power, he
blocked the plague of economic
blockage, and brought the
economy on track as well.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member
who made the Statement further
made us aware that Dr Limann
was a strong leader, and his
leadership skills were witnessed
when he assumed the reins
power. Military intelligence
revealed that there were plans to
destabilise his Government, but
he said that there was no legal
justification to try to imprison
any of those former members of
Armed Forces Revolutionary
Council (AFRC) and therefore,
he would not do anything about
it. Clearly, Dr Hilla Limann was
a great politician and an astute
leader.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member
who made the Statement further
made us aware that Dr Limann
was an internationally
recognised politician. Thus,
Queen Elizabeth, in 1981,
honoured him with a Knight
Grand Cross of St Michael and
St George of the United
Kingdom. It clearly shows that
Dr Hilla Limann really
represented this country very
well and as such, as a country,
we need to honour and give him
his due.
I would join the earlier
contributors to say that we need
to remember him by ensuring
that we become good
ambassadors through his
legacies and ensure that the
principles that underpinned his
leadership are continued and
ensure that they help grow this
country.
Mr Speaker, with these few
words, I would like to once
congratulate the once again Hon
Member who made the
Statement and thank you for the
opportunity.
Mr Second Deputy
Speaker: Hon Members, we
have the final Statement for the
day, and it stands in the name of
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
on the Disturbing Resurgence of
Coup d'états in the African Sub- Region.
Hon Member, the Floor is
yours.
The Disturbing Resurgence
of Coup d'états in the African Sub-Region
Mr Samuel Okudzeto
Ablakwa (NDC - North Tongu): Mr Speaker, I shall like
to convey my sincere
appreciation to you for granting
me the opportunity to make this
important Statement on a matter
that troubles and frightens all of
us the alarming resurgence of a
wave of coup d'états in our sub- region.
Mr Speaker, within the short
space of nine months, West
Africa has witnessed successful
coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina
Faso and a fourth apparent failed
attempt in Guinea-Bissau only
yesterday, 1st February, 2022.
This happened during a cabinet
meeting and Guinea-Bissau
President, Umaro Cissoko
Embalo said that it left many
soldiers dead.
Mr Speaker, the coup jinx
does not appear to be an entirely
West African phenomenon;
Sudan and Zimbabwe have
registered themselves on the list
of infamy in recent years.
Numerous other attempts across
multiple African jurisdictions
have been recorded.
Mr Speaker, since 1999,
Africa never experienced four
successful coups in one calendar
year as we saw in 2021; just last
year. This is what has led to
grave concerns with the United
Nations (UN) Secretary General,
Antonio Guterres, describing the
situation as “an epidemic of coup d'états.”
Mr Speaker, the tidal wave of
coup d'états set off by the Togolese soldiers in 1963,
seemed to roll on unabated even
in 2022. Since this first coup on
the African continent, there has
been an average of 25 coups
every decade between the 1960s
and 1990s. One would have
thought that with the advent of
the new world order, these
democratic setbacks would have
a feature of the past. A world
order which places premium on
democracy, good governance,
rule of law, respect for human
rights, strong institutions and the
increasing use of economic and
political sanctions on those who
falter.
Ironically, it is this new
western-backed world order that
we find coups very much in
fashion, particularly in West
Africa. West Africa has been a
hotbed of these coups. The sub-
region kicked off the coup
culture on the African continent
and has so far held the dubious
record of maintaining the lead in
coups. The recent successful
coup being the January 23, 2022
Burkina Faso military takeover.
So far, it seems that apart from
Cape Verde, every single
country in West Africa has
experienced a coup.
Mr Speaker, there has been a
false sense of transition to
“stable democratic” order within the West African sub-region, but
any neutral observer will admit
that the coups, like our collective
underdevelopment, have always
been part of us even if the guns
appeared to have been silenced
somewhat in the 1990s when
hope was emerging about a
refreshing democratisation
wave.
Mr Speaker, the Economic
Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), the sub-
regional supranational body, has
adopted a highhanded post-facto
approach, including individual
and collective sanctions, border
closures, suspension of
membership and threats of
military invasion to deal with
these occurrences, yet, these
measures have not served as
adequate deterrent.
The forces pushing these
military adventurers seem
greater than the potential
punishment or risks they are
likely to contend with.
Mr Speaker, there is
widespread global consensus
that liberal democracy is facing a
crisis of confidence. Freedom
House's 2018 “Freedom in the World Report” found democratic declines in 71 countries, while
only 35 registered
improvements. The Economist's Intelligence Unit has reported
similar consistent declines in
democracy over the last few
years. Though scholars agree
that democracy is sick across the
world, there is general
convergence that Africa's situation is most severe.
The erosion of Africa's democratic gains has been far
reaching. The African Centre
for Strategic Studies has
observed that since 2015, leaders
of 13 African countries have
“evaded or overseen the further weakening of term limit
restrictions that have been in
place”. In addition, many elections on the continent have
not been free, fair and credible.
Frequent elections have also not
guaranteed genuine respect for
democratic tenets.
Mr Speaker, a careful study of
the “Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG)” published
by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation
reveals how poorly many
African countries, especially
those affected by coups, are
faring in the following
indicators: security and rule of
law; participation, rights and
inclusion; foundations for
economic opportunity and
human development indices.
Mr Speaker, an appraisal of
Africa's performance in fighting corruption when we come to
analyse the Corruption
Perception Index (CPI)
published by Transparency
International is even more
depressing. What we see is
stagnation at best and
deterioration at worst. Mr
Speaker, 44 out of 49 African
countries assessed in 2021 by the
CPI scored below 50 out of a
score of 100. Only Seychelles,
Cape Verde and Botswana offer
the continent some hope.
Mr Speaker, the African
situation is exacerbated by
worsening terrorism and violent
extremism in the sub-region
following, in particular, the
chaotic overthrow of Col
Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhafi of Libya in 2011. Since then,
sophisticated weapons have
found their way into the hands of
rebels and terrorists who have
presented a formidable challenge
to African governance.
The Tuareg rebels, al-Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb and
Boko Haram are growing
stronger and annexing more
territories day by day. It is
instructive to note that last
month's coup makers in Burkina Faso cited the worsening
security situation as a major
reason for the coup. They claim
to be responding to the massacre
of some 50 Burkinabe soldiers in
the Soum Province by extremists
and the government's failure to better equip the army.
Mr Speaker, what is even
more intriguing is the popular
support and massive jubilation
which these coups are greeted
with by the African people; clear
paradox of the people's
democracy versus popular
coups.
Mr Speaker, as a consummate
democrat, I am convinced that
coups are not the panacea to
Africa's hydra-headed and intractable socio-economic
challenges. That said, we must
all concede that the promised
democratic dividend has
remained largely elusive on the
African continent.
The only real solution to the
coup epidemic, as the UN
Secretary-General calls it,
cannot be African Union (AU)
and ECOWAS sanctions.
African Leaders need an urgent,
bold and robust Marshall Plan to
address regional insecurity,
acute unemployment, lack of
opportunities for the youth,
marginalisation, corruption,
nepotism, proliferation of arms,
insurgencies, dictatorships,
economic mismanagement,
foreign exploitation and clueless
leadership.
Africa's version of democracy, which has been a sham at best in
many jurisdictions, has rather
produced a political and
economic elite beholden to
nepotism, cronyism, corruption,
opulence and highhandedness
often laced with blatant
disregard for the rule of law,
cannot be kept in place.
Mr Speaker, it is time for the
AU and other sub-regional
bodies such as ECOWAS to
institute an independent
monitoring and evaluation
system that assesses the
democratic health, stability and
economic wellbeing of member
states for frank peer review as a
proactive measure to forestall
more coups.
This independent assessment
must be conducted regularly by
credible African civil society
organisations or foundations in a
transparent and scientific
manner. Their findings must be
made public to both enrich the
African democratic discourse,
and to also assure citizens that
their leaders are paying attention
to what really matters to them.
This will shed the perception that
AU/ECOWAS leaders have
become a big-boys' club only interested in regime protection.
Mr Speaker, the history of
coups in Africa teaches us that
they are very contagious and
tend to have a domino effect.
The horizon does not look good.
We cannot continue with mere
sanction regimes after the fact
and which clearly have deterred
no one.
Mr Speaker, I therefore
appeal, particularly to Ghana's President and Chair of
ECOWAS, H .E. Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to
consider this preventive and pre-
emptive approach which I have
humbly suggested.
Mr Speaker, we must also
consider other geopolitical
factors. It is emerging that the
international community lacks a
common position on these
coups. It was quite unnerving to
see Russia and China on 12th
January, 2022 - just last month - block a UN Security Council
Statement promoted by France
and the United States intended to
back ECOWAS sanctions on
Mali following Mali's military rulers' refusal to abide by a February 27, 2022 deadline to
conduct democratic elections.
They are rather proposing to stay
in power for up to five (5) years.
Related to this are growing
tensions between western allies
and Russia over the role of
Russia and the Wagner Group in
Mali. Further poisoning the
atmosphere is the growing
popular campaign in French
West Africa calling on France to
leave and cut all colonial ties.
There is also the recent
expulsion of the French
Ambassador from Mali which
have all created troubling images
reminiscent of the Cold War era.
Mr Speaker, Africa's destiny must be determined by its own
people. The attempts by foreign
powers to fish in troubled waters
on the continent and import their
escalating differences is the last
thing the continent needs in these
trying times.
Mr Speaker, as I conclude,
may we, in Ghana, not be
complacent, but learn useful
lessons from the turbulence all
around us, and do all in our
democratic power to preserve
our well-acclaimed stability by
addressing our own fault lines of
growing unemployment, political
intolerance, deep polarisation,
economic hardships, CPI
stagnation, unpopular policies,
resentment for the political class,
and lingering unresolved crimes.
We refuse to draw lessons at our
own peril.
Mr Speaker, I wish to thank
you most sincerely for the
Several Hon Members —
rose —
Mr Second Deputy
Speaker: Yes, I will call the
senior most - Hon Member for
Wa Central.
Dr Abdul-Rashid Hassan
Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central):
Mr Speaker, thank you very
much for this unique opportunity
to contribute to a Statement like
this which reflects on the coup
d'états in Africa, especially in
West Africa, and the challenges
therein.
Mr Speaker, coup d'états are
a reflection of political and
economic failures. They often
happen because there is large
discontent which seeps from the
grassroots into the quarters of the
military for a military person to
take advantage of the situation
and venture into the seat of
government and overthrow
Mr Speaker, even though the
challenge is about the failure of
the economy and the political
system, the unfolding events
after the coup d'état often abuse and destroy the system, and are
even worse than the situation
that they come to meet. So,
essentially, as the Hon Member
who made the Statement
identified, it is embarrassing for
the State, destroys its goodwill,
and the esprit de corps that exists
in the system is also completely
destroyed.
Mr Speaker, there is a
historical link that brings about
coup d'états in Africa. From independence, we all fought
against the colonialists. The
challenge was that the
colonialists abused the system,
and they carried our efforts, as
well as our goods and services
outside the country. They
destroyed everything that was
our culture and nature. Thus, a
struggle began by a group of
people who fought the colonial
system. We called them
“liberating fighters”. They fought until they won in many
countries, and in fact, in all of
Africa now.
The expectation of Africans
was that the leaders of the
liberation would then restore
peace, security and development
in the nations. From
independence up until the 1970s,
we did not begin to see all the
things that we fought for; so,
coup d'états started. They started until there was an intervention
by the World Bank because the
coup d'état makers themselves needed money, and they needed
to go somewhere for that money.
Therefore, they went to the
World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) for money, and then the
issue of structural adjustment
came into being. One of the
fundamental issues about
structural adjustments was to
insist that if nation leaders
wanted their governments to
thrive and they wanted money
from them, then they would have
to make sure that there was
democracy; free choice, liberal
economy and the rest in their
countries. Our leaders bought all
of them and carried them along,
and that could be one of the
reasons we are sitting here with
the 1992 political dispensation
that has given birth to the
Parliament that we have today.
Mr Speaker, West Africa
went through this system, and
today, after several countries had
recouped from the era of coup
d'états, fresh coup d'états are happening. Burkina Faso, as the
Hon Member who made the
Statement mentioned, is a typical
case of a repeated coup d'état within these last five years. That
political upheaval there is also
translating into other effects in
the rest of West Africa. We have
countries such as Mali and
Guinea all following suit, and an
attempted coup d'état in La Côte d'Ivoire.
Mr Speaker, these are not
things that we should look at
with glee; we need to look at
them with a lot of pain because
the sovereignty of Africa is
being subjected to question. The
ability of leaders to transform
their leadership to the benefit of
the people is being questioned,
and Dr Kwame Nkrumah's
assertion is now being
challenged.
He talked about the black
African capable of managing his
own affairs. If we now come face
to face with the former
colonialists, they might ask this:
“You are black men who said you were capable of ruling
yourselves. Since you now have
power, have you been able to do
it?” Mr Speaker, the answer is definitely a no because of what is
going on now.
Mr Speaker, the challenge is
about political leaders who want
to extend themselves beyond
their tenures. It is happening
everywhere. In Uganda, we have
a classical case of a leader who
has extended his rule over and
over, and now after being in
power for 36 years, he still wants
five more years. We need to
begin to question ourselves on
how leadership operates in
Africa.
ECOWAS also needs to
reflect on its own charter; the
ECOWAS Charter that
prescribes democracy as a way
of governance, which all the
West African nations signed on
to. We now have to question it,
but if we cannot, we would not
get the way through. It is
important that when these
Statements are made, we reflect
deeply and begin to do
something concrete about them.
Mr Speaker, ECOWAS must
begin to question leaders today
who want to perpetuate their
rule, abuse the democratic
systems that have been put in
place, extend the life of their
government beyond expectation,
and abuse the rights of people. If
they cannot do that, then there is
a high possibility that with the
consistent economic failures
now sweeping through Africa,
more coup d'états would come, but we do not hope and pray so.
Mr Speaker, because coup
d'états create a condition where people lose their rights and
because they bring about
uncertainty, we would need to
kill the aspirations of members
of the military in undertaking
them and re-create and re-think
about Africa and the ECOWAS.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very
much, and would want to thank
the Hon Member who made the
Statement.
Several Hon Members — rose —
Mr Second Deputy
Speaker: Hon Members, it
appears that a lot of you are
interested in contributing to this
Statement. If you get the
opportunity, be snappy so that I
can give time to somebody else
to also make a contribution.
