Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Professor Kobby Mensah has noted that not all businesses are adversely impacted by coup d’etats in Africa.
According to him, although businesses that operate in the tourism sector tend to be the most impacted by coup d’tats due to tourists’ fear of being attacked by insurgents, businesses in the extractive sector on the other hand thrive.
This is because, the military juntas that overthrow governments due to the multiple trade sanctions placed on them by the Continent’s regional bodies and their inability to raise revenue from trade, tend to sell the country’s mineral resources at cheap prices to western countries.
Making the assertion during the NorvanReports X Space discussion titled “Africa’s Coup D’etats and Business Landscape: Effects on Investments and Economic Stability”, on Sunday, Prof Mensah quipped that unscrupulous western nations during coup d’etats in Africa become opportunistic and siphon the continent’s natural resources.
“There are different types of coups and their implications on businesses, but it must be noted that not every business suffers during coup d’etats.
“The tourism sector suffers the most during coup d’etats, but the extractive sector for instance doesn’t, and this is because some of the western countries particularly the unscrupulous ones use it as an opportunity to siphon the country’s natural mineral resources at cheap prices,” he stated.
Speaking further during the X Space discussion, Prof Mensah noted that businesses (both local and foreign) thrive in certainty and that foreign businesses pulling out their investments in African countries during coup d’etats, is premised on the orientation of African coup d’etats by the western world.
According to him, foreign businesses and to a large extent the western world, will choose to continue trading with countries that practice democracy but have very serious constitutional, social, and economic issues but would immediately discontinue trading with a military-led country simply because the military overthrew the previous Government although the country in question may have less serious social and economic issues or challenges.
Meanwhile, a spate of eight coups in the last three years, including the recent ouster of Gabon’s president by soldiers, has highlighted why military takeovers are returning in African countries.
Early Wednesday, military officers seized power after an announcement that President Ali Bongo had secured a third term in an election, ending his family’s 56-year hold on power.
In Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, and Chad, coup leaders are still in control despite widespread condemnation and sanctions.
Security analysts said these power grabs threaten a reversal of Africa’s democratisation process in the past two decades and a return to the era of coups as the norm.
Out of the 486 attempted or successful military coups carried globally since 1950, Africa accounts for the most significant number, with 214, of which at least 106 have been successful, according to a survey compiled by American researchers Jonathan Powell and Clayton Thyne.
The survey also showed at least 45 of the 54 nations across the African continent have experienced at least a single coup attempt since 1950.
Recent successful coups in Africa
Niger: On July 26, 2023, the military overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum.
Burkina Faso: In January 2022, Burkina Faso’s army removed President Roch Kabore, blaming him for failing to contain violence by Islamist militants. In September of that year, there was a second coup by army Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who forcibly deposed Paul Henri-Damiba.
Guinea: In September 2021, special forces commander Colonel Mamady Doumbouya overthrew President Alpha Conde. A year earlier, Conde had changed the constitution to circumvent limits that would have prevented him from standing for a third term, triggering widespread rioting.
Chad: In April 2021, Chad’s army took power after President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield while visiting troops fighting rebels in the north.
Mali: In August 2020, a group of Malian colonels removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The coup followed anti-government protests over deteriorating security, contested legislative elections and allegations of corruption. Nine months later, a countercoup happened, with Assimi Goita, named vice president after the first one, leading the second and becoming head of state.
Sudan: In October 2021, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military takeover in Khartoum, dissolving a ruling council in which the army and civilians had shared power and throwing the country’s democratic transition into turmoil.
