The Fatboy Show guest host Daniel Omara today morning questioned the intention of the African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia earlier this month.
The summit was held in response to the rising threats of coups in West African countries i.e. Burkina Faso, Mali and a failed attempt in Guinea Bissau that were undermining the peaceful transfer of power through elections.
“In these meetings, are they actually talking about how to resolve the prolonged stays in power or are they discussing how to suppress a coup in the event that it happens? Because I’d like to think that one of them could help avoid the other,” Omara opined.
“Yes they have every right to meet and discuss this as leaders for the sake of security, but there's another conversation that needs to be had about the extended stay in power of African leaders,” he added.
Omara and his Co-host Olive Najjuma were commenting on the increased number of coups in Africa that could be responsible for the East African joint military drills to be carried out in Uganda from May to June 2022 in the eastern parts of the country.
Over 1500 troops from the six East African countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan are to converge in a field training named Ushirikiano Imara 2022 that will test the troops’ readiness to respond to complex security challenges.
In her opinion, Olive mentioned that the security challenges must be related to the terrorist attacks and coups that incumbent African leaders keep speaking against. She cited President Museveni who said that coup leaders shouldn't take on the government given that no one voted for them and they won't be accountable to anyone.
Commenting on President Museveni’s remarks, Olive and Omara said that although the President wasn't a soldier in the government that ousted Tito Okello, he didn't assume power through elections.
“Maybe he has learnt from his experience 36 years ago about the effects of trying to take power by force and how some things may not be applicable today. Probably that may be the gospel he's trying to preach.”
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.