Usurping power through violence and unconstitutional measures only serves to roll back the efforts that the Guinean people have been investing to ensure that their country attains the much-needed peace and security that are critical for sustainable development. The coup in Guinea, the third attempt in West Africa in one year is very worrying as it demonstrates the gradual degeneration of democratic values in the region.
Ultimately those who will pay the price for the erosion of democratic institutions are ordinary citizens, left without the protection these institutions were meant to provide.

While we condemn the coup attempt by the military, we also take note that many Guineans and their political groups have been frustrated by the constitutional change that was effected in 2020 to allow President Alpha Condé to run for a third term.
Let this serve as a lesson to our African leaders that the tendency to cling to power through the manipulation of the constitution creates frustration among the citizenry that can easily be taken advantage of to justify an unconstitutional intervention such as we have just witnessed in Guinea. ITUC-Africa therefore calls on African leaders to respect their term limits and constitutionalism and follow due process to win the people’s mandate to lead. African leaders must resist the temptation to tamper with stipulated term limits and work to uphold the rule of law.

Kwasi Adu-Amankwah
General Secretary