Why is the spectre of coups d’Ètat stalking Africa again?

There was a time when coup d’Ètat (‘stroke of the state’ in French) used to be in vogue in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, between 1952 and 2000 there were some 85 putsches in Africa. But with the gospel of democracy having reached all corners of the continet, the number of coups have fallen drastically and optimists have even predicted that they would soon become history.

But old habits, it’s now clear, die hard. The fiendish coup d’etat is making a comeback with a fury. Thankfully, East Africa seems to have taken democracy lessons (or something close to that) seriously and has escaped the wrath of the ghoul.