Historical antecedent of Coup d'etat in Africa especially in the West African sub region traces its roots after the Colonial era where the Colonial powers that collonized West African States handed over the reigns of government to West African states from 1957 that became independent to govern themselves. So the sense of Pan Africanism inspired grossly by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Sekou Toure, Julius Nyirere, Tafawa Balewa, and co led to African Emancipation from colonial rule in the hope that the African states would able to govern themselves devoid of colonial influence.

In the light of this vision, many West African states became independent mostly between 1957-66. beginning with Ghana. After this emancipation, coup d'etat swept the West African Sub region between 1966 when Nkrumah was overthrown till the late 80s. So between 1966-1989 many West African states were under military rule because these military leaders were of the view that the civilian regimes that inherited the colonial government were not able to address the socio economic needs of the ordinary citizen. Some of these coup d'etat and uprising served a good purpose and some did not.

In the case of Ghana, it was necessary at that time in 1979 because of Public aproar against the bad governance of the military régime. This uprising though there were excess, brought some sanity into the political Leadership in Ghana that entreched the principles of Accountability, Probity, Transparency, Honesty, Integrity into the body politic of governance through till 1992 that Ghana became a Republic.

To this end, research and intelligence resonate that political oppression, social repression, dictatorship, Youth unemployment, institutionalized corruption and economic hardships has been the reasons why Coup d'etat and terrorist attacks has return to the West African sub region in recent times unlike the first wave which had traces of fight against neo colonialism and to some extent dictatorship. The recent coup d'etat is more about the sustainable livelihood of the ordinary citizen who become vulnerable in joining terrorist groups in the sub region to distabilized the sub region because leadership have failed to address the socio economic needs of the people while leaders keep enriching themselves and creating wealth through institutionalized corruption whiles majority of citizens live in abject poverty.

What this means is that the current wave has 2 elementary factors. One has to with security of the states by threats of terrorism which the civilian governments have failed to address. The other has to do with giving power to the people beyond the political elite that is perceived to be corrupt and have rendered many to live in abject poverty while they amass wealth for themselves.

Effect of this has resulted in political unrest, mass revolt and insecurity around the region in recent times. As results, Terrorist activities are on the rise in the West African province because these groups have taken advantage of the vulnerable who are living in abject poverty to recruit them to join these groups to create insecurity in the sub region as a way of speaking truth to power. So the recent rise of Terrorism in the sub region is not about extremism or religious inclinations but as a result of how many people have been subjected to abject poverty while the elite amass wealth. It is as a results of economic hardships and high unemployment rate.

In recent past Boko Haram has been very vociferous on this subject matter of poverty in Northern Nigeria until their crusade waded off when most of their leaders were killed that weakened their strength to operate. Prior to the emergence of Boko Haram, the Ansar Dine that had links with Alquaeda, had operated around the Maghreb regions in Morocco, Mali, Niger and Western Sahara led by Iyad Ghaly. They participated in the Northern Mali conflict and claimed large territories in northern Mali, Kidal, Goa and Timbuktu and it is perceived that they supported the Mali forces to overthrow Ahmadou Traoere government in 2012. This group became depleted in operations as a result of Alquaeda weakened financial muscle to fund Terrorist activities when Bin laden went into hiding and his death. The Ansar dine then split with the Alquaeda Islamic Maghreb AQIM and joined forces with JNIM, Jama'at Nusurat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, since 2014 who has been Carrying out terrorists activities in sub region since. So it is important to note that ISWAP Islamic State of West Africa Province linked to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, ISIL that merged with Boko haram in 2016 has been operating in West and Central Africa after its split from Boko haram. They have been operating along side JNIM which has also merged with Macina Liberation Movement, Al Mourabituon and Al-Quaeda AQIM and operating in the Tuareg and Maghreb regions in Niger, Mali, Western Sahara. In inference, because of Counter Terrorism activities against terrorism, it has been very difficult for these groups to operate in isolation because of weak financial muscle so they have resolved to merge with themselves most of whom comes from the Tuareg regions after the overthrow of Gaddafi. Thus, splinter groups such as Boko Haram forces, AQIM, ISWAP and others are operating under JNIM with most of them Tuareg forces. They occupy parts of Niger and Northern Mali since anti Gaddafi rebellion pushed them out of the Saharan dessert where they policed the desert entry for Gaddafi government.

So, what it means is that all the terrorist activities in the West African region especially Niger, Mali, Burkina, Central Africa is carried out by these JNIM forces led by Ghaly, former Commander of Ansar Dine and it is same countries that have been swept by military coup d'etat including Guinea. The terrorist groups control parts of northern Mali and Niger.. the more reason Asibid Goita and his men carried out coup d'etat in Mali amidst public uproar against lack of of political will to fight Terrorism in the country in order to reclaim those territories which the government had failed to do so.

What could be the reasons???

Having examined the causes of Terrorism and Coup d'etat in the West African regions, reasons why these takes place have similarities but in different context and ideology. What is common in both Terrorist attacks and Coup d'etat is Institutionalized corruption against the suffering lot of the masses as well as economic hardships and youth unemployment. So this means that countries that is entangled with economic hardships, institutionalized corruption, political oppression, dictatorship, social repression and youth unemployment are not immune from Coup d'etat and terrorism. To a larger extent the coup d'etat in recent times seek to avert terrorism activities. The Coup in Guinea cited the lack of political Will to fight terrorism around the Guinean borders as one of the reasons and also political oppression and dictatorship in which the president Alpha Conde overthrew the constitution to run for a third term. It also cited youth unemployment and institutionalized corruption among the political elite. Same as Mali, Burkina Fasso and Niger all have cited same reasons especially lack of political will to fight terrorism and encouragement institutionalized corruption. So here, the security of citizens is more paramount in recent coup d'etat alongside fighting institutionalized corruption among the political elite that has rendered many citizens to live in abject poverty. So these coup d'etat resonate with the will of the masses to change the narrative of giving power to the people by deepening the principles of social contract and social justice. Citizens of these countries have lost confidence political leadership which positions the military to take over to address these ills of society. They have now become the voice of the people.

Any Implications for Ghana?

Yes, there could be implications for Ghana to which the government have a huge responsibility to address youth unemployment and institutionalized corruption among political appointees perceived to be corrupt. Any discerning Ghanaian could attest to the fact that there is economic hardships in the country today culminated by highest inflation, fall in the value of the Cedi, youth unemployment, falling educational standards, social repression etc. There's also, Institutionalized corruption among government appointees and scandals which the government have failed to address whiles many Ghanaians are living in abject poverty. Unemployment rate is high among the youth which has culminated in anti social practices among the youth such as armed robbery and drug trafficking. These social adverse must be a grave concern to government to avoid the vulnerability of the youth being recruited into terrorist groups. Some where in 2021 a youth from Ghana who joined a terrorist group in Mali died through suicide bombing and left a note that the youth of Ghana should take up arms against the government because of hardship it has imposed on the people. This development is quiet worrying because we may not know how many of Ghanaians recruited into terrorist groups.

To this end, if Ghana would be immune from these terrorist attacks and coup d'etat, government should take steps as a matter of urgency, to address these political, social and economic vices with political Will.

1. Government should exercise political Will to fight institutionalized corruption among Appointees and state institutions

2. Government should desist from activities that could be perceived political oppression and vendetta that could trigger public uproar.

3. Government should institute as a matter of urgency, structural adjustment programs in economic policy management that will address sustainable livelihood development of the people. By so doing, social development program that will have direct impact on the livelihood of citizens should be implored..

4. Government as matter of urgency address youth unemployment by creating meaninful jobs and reducing expenditure of the executive by avoiding frivolous spending.

5. The Security services must be well resourced with necessary logistics, motivation, manpower capacity building in the field of intelligence to avert any possible terrorist attacks that could come from external aggression which can distabilize the country.

These any many other remedies could save the situation for Ghana.

God bless our homeland Ghana!!

Dr. Michael Richmond Smart-Abbey,

Historian, Security Intelligence Expert and Political Analyst (Political and Security Intelligence Bureau)

Author, Terrorism, A Threat To Global Peace and Security

smartabbeymichael2404@gmail.com.