“Have we ever thought of why democracy is failing in the region? The truth is that elected leaders have failed to deliver,” she said.

Madam Samba-Sesay said this in her keynote address at the opening of the West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS) 2023 Annual Con­vening of the Network Members in Accra.

The two-day meeting, on “Amplifying CSOs’ Response to Democratic Recession in West Africa,” is being attended by stakeholders from across the West African sub-region.
    

The Chairperson said evi­dence abounds where citizens had danced in the region to welcome military leaders.

“When and where did we go wrong? Did we not promise each other that the only way to leader­ship should be an expressed and transparent will of the people through the ballot?” she asked.

“We have long agreed that power in Africa should never be through the barrels of loaded guns. But this is not the case for five countries in West Africa. Irrespec­tive of how benevolent a military dictator was or could be, the ex­pressed will of the great people of Wet Africa should be through free and credible elections,” she said.

She said, authoritarians had come to power through façade elections and democracy promoters had faced fierce attacks in their line of duties, with the resultant effect being West African States degen­erating into various democratic sub-types.

“Now we have counterfeit democracies run by democratic dictators and self-styled leaders attempting to manipulate constitu­tions and in others the resurgence of military coups.”

Madam Samba-Sesay said the future of democracy, and by ex­tension development, lay in stable societies in the region.

“The good news is that amidst the challenges some decency still exists. Last year in this beautiful city of Accra and in an auspicious event, we launched a solidarity net­work- WADEMOS as a response to the signs of democratic back­sliding and authoritarianism West Africa.”

The aim was to mobilise, coor­dinate and leverage the collective power of pro-democracy actors and to also engage regional bodies and instruments to push back democratic erosion, defend and reinvigorate democratic norms.

She said that was exactly what they needed a networked society to achieve and WADEMOS must, therefore, be strengthened to a reliable platform for civil society to push back against democratic decline.

Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, the Executive Director, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), in his welcome remarks, lauded Liberians for their commitment to a success­ful election, which was a plus for democracy.

He commended the outgoing President, Mr George Weah, for his commitment to a peaceful demo­cratic transition.

“I think we should congratulate our brothers and sisters in Liberia for a very peaceful election and President George Weah for his extraordinary reconciliatory and­progressive concession speech.”