Abstract:
One of the phenomena that Africa and the world are currently witnessing is a
chain of military takeovers of countries’ highest offices, the state, in Central and
West Africa’s states. This phenomenon symbolizes the abuse of
constitutionalism, which would have warranted a smooth transfer of power
through competitive elections. Additionally, instead of this phenomenon being
welcomed by citizens with condemnation and demonstrations of dissatisfaction
and defence of constitutionalism, the contrary is being witnessed. The citizens
are seen celebrating and cheering on the coup leaders for their bravery, which
is presumed to be ending the years of suffering from economic hardships
allegedly induced by the constitutionally elected leaders. Examining the status
quo in selected Central and West African countries, this paper assesses how
constitutionalism seems to be being upheld. The authors conducted an online
literature search, which included the purposefully selected literature regarding
constitutionalism and power transition in Africa in general and in Niger, Chad,
and Gabon in particular. Textbooks, journal articles, media news, and conference
proceedings were selected from online search engines such as Google, Google
Scholar, Google Advanced Search, and ePDF. Text-based news from news
broadcast organizations’ websites, including BBC, Africa news, and Voice of
Africa, was also obtained. This paper establishes that the encroachment of
constitutionalism in the understudied countries is the result of the presence of
constitutions that cannot preside supreme, bad governance, disregard for the
rule of law, and intractable military and anti-imperialism sentiments. Additionally,
for constitutionalism to triumph, the constitution must be infallible and preside
supreme, and any amendments should follow constitutional procedures, which
include inclusion and by responsible institutions. The paper concludes that
constitutionalism is a process that guides the relationship between the state and
the people and therefore needs to be adhered to consistently. It warns that the
phenomena witnessed in Central and West African countries might escalate to
other parts of Africa as well, in which constitutionalism is disregarded.
