BEHIND THE ELEPHANT: Halt Ouattara’s Political Vandalism

President Alassane Ouattara, 78, of Ivory Coast

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) must take urgent steps to halt Alassane Ouattara’s political vandalism currently being orchestrated in Ivory Coast.

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Under the Ivorian Constitution, two-terms, means two-terms. It is therefore rash irresponsible on the part of President Alassane Ouattara, whose term has ended to try doctoring the Constitution for his own diabolical scheme.

Ouattara, who was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2015 for his second term, has succeeded in manipulating the country’s Constitutional Council, and the Electoral Commission and it is therefore unlikely to have a free and fair election on October 31, 2020. At 78, Ouattara should leave the Presidential Palace, go back to his village and play with his grand children and not plunge Ivory Coast into another chaos as was the case in 2010-11 when over 3,000 people died in the civil war in the country.

ECOWAS, and indeed, the African Union (AU), must not wait until the military intervenes (as happened in Mali recently) before moving in to impose sanctions on the country.

It is time African leaders learn to abide by the Constitutional Provisions of their own countries and save the African continent from continued calamity.