By Linus Aleke

Member of Liberian Delegation to the fifth ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. said, the rampant coup d’etat, especially, in Francophone West Africa, is a protest against French’s negative and unpalatable colonial legacies, in the sub-region.

Senator Snowe Jr. who is also the Chairman of Political Affairs, Peace, Security, and African Peer Review Mechanism of the ECOWAS Parliament, noted that the coup has less to do with the economic bloc.

The leader of the Liberian delegation to the Community Parliament, equally disclosed that a study is being carried out, as a coup in the sub-region is fast becoming rather a protest against France.

According to him, “How were the French former colonies treated in the past years, they deserve a little more and France needs to call those countries to a dialogue; that is where the problem is”.

The ECOWAS MP added, “If we think ECOWAS will solve this problem, we are far from the reality. The colonial master France need to play a leading role. When there is a coup you do not see them burning the ECOWAS flag, you see them putting up the Russian flag; France needs to call them and discuss equity and give them what is due them”.

He, however, expressed support for the stand of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigerian and the West African Defence Chiefs, against military intervention in Niger.

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The ECOWAS MP, in a telephone chat, said, “It’s a good decision, there are a lot of implications going to war. The people we are depending on to fight said we should go for dialogue instead of fighting. Our region is in a very difficult situation now, we need to study the situation and understand that war will not be the solution and a lot of parliaments in the sub-region will do likewise”.

He pointed out that in Niger, eighty per cent of the population is out of electricity and France is getting their natural resources to supply them with electricity; so it’s a serious problem and that is the reality.

He further explained that coup should not be tolerated, but was quick to add that “we should look at the problem; and from my understanding where I stand, France needs to step up their game and do more. Another difficulty that the sub-region is facing as a result of the colonial master France’s interference is the sub-region getting a single currency ECO. We would have had a single currency long ago if those countries did not have reserves in French banks. Their foreign reserves are in France so they have been undermining efforts to get a single currency. But for the involvement of France, the Francophone countries would have had a single currency. ECO would have seen the light of the day; ECOWAS needs to engage France to bring them under the same umbrella to have a fair discussion, otherwise, we will continue to have these same problems”.

Senator Snowe Jr. pointed out that, “we have eight Francophone countries in the sub-regional bloc and under the eight you have four with military regime; but do not forget the situation in all those countries are slightly different”.

Guinea, he said has always had their system, adding “They have their currency; they do not use the French CFA, they have their situation in those other countries and the Authority of Heads of states need to look more at France’s involvement”.

He also disagrees with those who think the coup is an ECOWAS problem, saying, that is why their citizens are standing up against ECOWAS because, look, they say we are looking for our true freedom and liberation and ECOWAS is standing in the way of our suppression”.

On whether the Chair of the Authority of Heads of States and Governments, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s action will send a signal that Nigeria is back on the bloc, he noted that Nigeria is the hub of ECOWAS and they have paid the highest dues when it comes to peace-keeping operations in our region.

“They led the peace-keeping effort in Liberia, followed by Ghana; and in Sierra Leone, they did the same followed by Ghana. The crises in the Gambia, Nigeria led to efforts in resolving followed by Senegal. Now, that Nigeria has come back to the bloc with a very strong force with its newly elected president, there is hope,” he said.