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Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo appealed to African leaders, sociopolitical stakeholders, and experts to adopt strong measures to counter a rise in unconstitutional changes of governments across the continent.

During remarks at the Reflection Forum II on Unconstitutional Changes of Government, Akufo-Addo said there has been a deterioration in the state of democracy in Africa.

“As we gather here, six Member States of the Union have been suspended for the same reasons. This is an extraordinary occurrence in our efforts to safeguard the ideals of democracy in Africa,” said Akufo-Addo. “What is more is that the territories within which the two coups in 2023 occurred have created a geographical spread, which many refer to as a “coup belt,” stretching from the Atlantic coast, here in West Africa, through the Sahel to the Red Sea coast in the Horn of Africa.”

President Akufo-Addo urged secretariats, elected officials, international civil servants, think tanks and other groups to provide policymakers with innovative and practical recommendations to address these challenges.

“There must be a critical group of individuals within and outside the multilateral frameworks that our AU officials should be able to call upon to engage and co-generate response options, when necessary, to de-escalate crises.”

President Akufo-Addo also encouraged the AU and other regional bodies to invest in developing national institutions and empower citizens to demand compliance and accountability from their governments.

More importantly, Akufo-Addo highlighted measures countries can take to avoid such scenarios. He pointed out the need for governments to ensure truly free and fair elections.

President Akufo-Addo also called for better cooperation between intelligence services and agencies at the regional and continental levels to arrest such probabilities before they occur.