Kwesi Pratt 'Bites' ECOWAS For Suspending Burkina Faso After Coup D'état

Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has slammed ECOWAS over its inability to proactively prevent coup d'états from happening on the African continent.

Some African countries have recently experienced coup d'états with their Presidents overthrown and detained.

A recent coup happened in Burkina Faso on Monday with the country’s army led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba ousting the President, Roch Kaboré.

The army went ahead to dissolve the government and the national assembly as well as closed the borders.

The announcement was made on the State television where the Army leader indicated that those detained were at a secure location.

The group made the statement in the name of an entity they called the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration or MPSR which is a French acronym.

"MPSR, which includes all sections of the army, has decided to end President Kabore's post today," it said.

Following the coup, the Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) has meted out sanctions on Burkina Faso.

It has suspended Burkina Faso making it the third member nation to be punished for a military takeover in 18 months.

But Kwesi Pratt is unhappy with the approach of ECOWAS in dealing with security issues.

To him, the sanctions do not solve anything as the ECOWAS has achieved nothing with its sanctions on member nations.

He noted that the one of the reasons that accounts for the failure of the African authoritative body to bite hard on its member nations is its credibility problems.

Taking on the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Mr. Pratt explained why ECOWAS is losing its credibility, saying, "Alhassane Quattara plays a key role in ECOWAS but he too refused to go when his two terms were over. He is still in power for the third term. He has done far worse than what the President of Guinea did which resulted in coup d'état. He, himself, came into power as a result of a coup d'état. So, the credibility (of ECOWAS) is a serious matter of concern''.

He, however, advised the ECOWAS leaders to institute security measures to safeguard the citizens of the member nations as well as procatively avert security risks like a coup d'état.

"For me, what's important is the security concerns of citizens in all of these countries including our own. Why can't our leaders come to a consensus and look for ways to fight the Islamic insurgents and triumph over them for our people to have security?'', he questioned.