Former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma has asserted that bad governance is a reflection of problematic leadership, with reference to many African countries.

He made this statement at the Brenthurst Foundation dialogue series that started in Accra, Ghana on Monday, February 5, 2023, amid real concerns about insecurity in the region and across Africa. The South African-based Policy Think Tank, held what it calls, ‘The West African Security Dialogue’ in collaboration with the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Centre (KAIPTC).

The recent upsurge in military coups, militant extremist groups, and political protestations across Africa has rattled the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the international community at large and investigations also has it that coups are back, in parts.

The overall number of coup attempts in Africa remained consistent at an average of around four a year in the four decades between 1960 and 2000. Then fell to two per year. Of the 16 coups recorded globally since 2017, all but one (Myanmar in 2021) were in Africa. Half of these were in West and Central Africa.

In response to the aforementioned problems crippling the African continent, Former President, Ernest Bai Koroma said that the reason for the recent insurgence of coups in Africa is due to poor leadership and the absence of democratic dividend.

“West Africa was the darling of democracy, coups were a thing of the past but suddenly they are back with us. This is attributed to leadership failure and the absence of the democratic dividend,” he said.

Sierra Leone is one of the African countries preparing for elections in the first half of 2023 and it is believed that many things have to be put in place to maintain the ever lasting peace preached at different levels of engagement.

Over the last three years, there have been series of High-Level dialogues, consultations, retreats, and all manner of meetings by the regional and continental bodies. At the same time, a wide range of pro-democracy, peace, and security organizations have apparently been scampering around for ways to halt and deal with the democracy reversal, insecurity, and lack of economic development particularly in West Africa.

The consensus is that poor leadership and its antecedents of bad governance, mismanagement of diversity, manipulation of electoral processes, and violent contestation for political power, are among the main drivers of conflict particularly relating to public dissatisfaction with the political class, more so by Africa’s youths.