3 years too long for Mali junta to call the shots

Col. Assimi Goita, who has declared himself the leader of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, arrives to meet with former Nigerian president and mediator for the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS, Goodluck Jonathan, at the Ministry of Defense in the capital Bamako, Mali, on August 24, 2020. The military junta is now in charge of Mali. [Agencies]

There was Jubilation across Mali following the military overthrow of President Ibrahim Keita last week. For long, citizens wearied of a government that did not deliver services had agitated for change, but they had not banked on a military coup to bring change.

However, the Malian jubilation was bound to be short lived as realities of the situation set in. Military leaderships are not known for their democratic ideals. More often, the first thing that military juntas do is suspend a country’s constitution. Constitutionalism, the rule of law and democratic ideals suffer. Often, this paves way for dictatorships far worse than the worst democratically elected government.