NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 31 — Former Electoral Commission Chairperson Wafula Chebukati has cautioned that a barrage of military coups in West Africa are reversing gains made towards democratizing the continent.
Chebukati who headed Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) before his retirement in January 2023 noted that unobserved elections in the affected countries could be fueling anti-democratic transfer of power.
“The avalanche of election related military coups in Africa disrupts democratic gains. In most of these elections, Observers were excluded from the electoral process,” Chebukati noted.
“Election Observers are necessary as they contribute towards transparency and accountability of an election outcome,” he stated.
Chebukati remarks followed another coup in West Africa in which the military deposed Gabon deposed President Ali Bongo over what it termed a sham election.
The army officers appeared on national television to say they had nullified election results that declared Bongo the winner, effectively ending his family’s 53-year hold on power.
Gabon’s poll agency declared Bongo, who seeking a third term, the winner in results announced on Saturday.
The electoral commission said Bongo had won just under two-thirds of the votes in an election the opposition argued me was fraudulent.
The coup in Gabon came in the wake of a similar action in Niger where President Mohamed Bazoum remains detained since July 26 when the army announced a take-over.
In Niger, Presidential guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiachi proclaimed himself leader of the junta in Niger after a coup.
In Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the 34-year-old head of an artillery unit of the Armed Forces of Burkina Faso, declared himself head of state on September 30, 2022.
