African speakers seek blacklisting of countries with undemocratic govts

Speakers and heads of African parliaments have called on the global community to blacklist countries on the continent where undemocratic governments were in control.

The speakers, led by the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, said this at the 1st Conference of Speakers and Heads of African Parliaments (CoSAP) on Monday in Abuja.

They said the new trend of military coups could set the continent on a reverse gear for many years and erode the development gains achieved through constitutional democracy.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CoSAP was initiated in 2020 by Gbajabiamila and his colleagues from Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

This was to push for development in Africa through legislative support, including campaigns for debt cancellation by global creditors.

Gbajabiamila said during a plenary session on “Africa’s Public Financial Management in the COVID-19 Era” that no country would recognise a government that did not come through the ballot box.

Gbajabiamila said there were provisions in the laws against the takeover of democratically elected governments.

He said no country would recognise a government that did not come through the ballot box in Africa.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, South Africa Speaker, expressed surprise that undemocratic governments were gradually returning to Africa.

She noted that this was against the African Union’s position, which strongly opposed the undemocratic takeover of power.

Mapisa-Nqakula said what the rest of the world should do was to resolve not to have any dealings with such countries.

She described the trend as a “cancer”, which must be stopped from further spreading.

On his part, the Speaker of Zimbabwe, Mr. Jacob Matunda, stated that the lack of growth in Africa was not due to a lack of ideas, but the deliberate plot by the West to keep the continent in stagnation.

According to him, an African leader elected into office by popular will, or who comes up with innovative ideas is soon “punished”, through any available method.

The speakers, however, urged participants at the CoSAP meeting to come up with strong recommendations that would address the growing trend of military coups in some parts of the continent.