West Africa’s democracy requires open-heart surgery — ECOWAS Political Affairs Commissioner

Dr. Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS Commission's Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, has stated that West Africa's liberal democracy is confronting deep-rooted issues and requires urgent structural adjustments to remain relevant.

He made the statement on Thursday, April 24, while delivering the keynote address at a regional convening hosted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in Accra.

Dr. Musah stated that while the region has made tremendous progress in democratic governance since the 1990s, recent developments indicate that its foundations are crumbling in the face of new global power dynamics and domestic governance failings.

“Liberal democracy as practised in West Africa comes with fatal flaws that require open-heart surgery if it is to survive the current global turbulence,” he stated.

The ECOWAS Political Affairs Commissioner stated that for years, countries in the region had adopted liberal democracy as a strategic model, resulting in peaceful transitions and electoral successes.

However, he stated that progress is now jeopardised due to severe governance flaws and external influence.

Dr. Musah identified what he described as a "captured liberal democracy" and the deterioration of the social contract between citizens and the state, citing state capture, youth unemployment, selective provision of essential services, and the weaponisation of institutions to maintain power.

According to him, while recent elections in Senegal, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria demonstrate that democracy is still alive, citizens' growing dissatisfaction necessitates introspection.

Meanwhile, the two-day convening, under the theme “Foreign Powers, Interests and Impacts in West Africa”, forms part of CDD-Ghana’s broader push to assess the influence of shifting global alliances on Africa’s governance and stability.