The recent attempted coups in Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone and the recent coups in Guinea, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have got Ecowas to realize that the problem of the region is not only one of terrorism, it is increasingly becoming clear that democratic governance is still facing challenges in most countries in West Africa and the era of coups d’état is coming back with accelerated rapidity.
The Heads of State of Ecowas have come to realize in their last summit that unless they stem the tide of coups d’état that are raging democracy will be the casualty. It is therefore essential that maximum effort is made to ensure that governments are true to their mandate.
One can rightly say that the 64th Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government was a peer review summit. The Heads of State flagged all the shortcomings of governance of their respective countries and called on the governments to renew their commitments to address the challenges of fulfilling their mandates as expected of Ecowas members.
For The Gambia two key issues were highlighted by the Heads of State and Government. One is the constitution building process which is yet to materialize. The second is the truth, reconciliation and reparation process which is ongoing. Ecowas called on the government to expedite the adoption of a new constitution ahead of the 2026 presidential election and implementation of the white paper on the recommendation of the Truth Reconciliation Repatriation Commission.
Suffice it to say, if the community is to be effective it must give deadlines of their implementation. It is however evident that any negligence in the consolidation of democracy and good governance, the more countries will face greater instability.
