APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Africa has seen rising constitutional manipulation and an alarming uptick in military coups with the continent experiencing six coups and three attempted coups between 2020 and 2022, a study conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has revealed.
“The findings are captured in a flagship new report titled Soldiers and Citizens: Military Coups and the Need for Democratic Renewal in Africa,” UNDP said on Wednesday in a statement.
According to UNDP’s statement, the report was launched in partnership with Chatham House on the margins of the 5th Mid-Year Coordination 5th Mid-Year Coordination meeting between the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms in Nairobi, Kenya held on 15 July 2023.
UNDP said the study captured the views of 8,000 citizens across Africa and among them, 5,000 lived through recent coups or unconstitutional changes of government (UCG) as defined by the 2000 Lomé Declaration on OAU response to UCG.
These countries include Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali and Sudan. Their views were contrasted with those of 3,000 citizens from sample countries on a path of democratic transition or consolidation, namely The Gambia, Ghana, and Tanzania.
This unprecedented survey yielded a uniquely people-centered dataset to reveal insights both for preventing further coups and for harnessing opportunities for transformative change and sustained constitutional order, it said.
Three key findings emerged prominently from the research, said UNDP noting that the first is a preference for democracy by citizens, which culminates in a resounding call for states to deepen democracy and prioritize a reset of the social contract.
The majority of citizens surveyed across both settings indicated that democracy remains their preferred style of government. In fact, only 11 percent of the 5,000 citizens interviewed from the UCG context preferred a non-democratic form of government.
Yet, for governments across Africa to build coup resilience, better governance, deeper democracy and inclusive development progress should therefore be a guiding star, the findings of the study indicated.
A reset of the social contract is needed both to assist coup-affected states in moving forward to help prevent future coups, the study highlighted urging governments to shift their focus to practical delivery that directly improves the quality of life and opportunity for all segments of society.
The second is to develop essential platforms to mitigate coup risk, said the study, underlining that there are clear correlations between heightened coup risk and low development indicators, for instance, particularly in combination with governance deficits.
The study indicated that poor government performance, corruption and failure to deliver security, inclusive development gains and related opportunities create a deep appetite for change.
The study highlighted that the risks of coups in countries with a prolonged history of military rule as the third key contributing factor for a coup to happen and it stressed a critical need to reset the role of the military in political life, and across wider civil-military relations.
“The report calls for a re-focus on development including good governance, human rights and access to basic services such as education and healthcare as a critical means to not only prevent coups, but also sustain peace. This is particularly crucial in regions like the Sahel, which face a heightened risk of coups.” UNDP noted.
MG/abj/APA