By
By Staff Writer
An impassioned open letter circulating across West Africa is calling on ECOWAS, the African Union, and all regional bodies to confront what it describes as a worsening crisis of constitutional violations, elite impunity, poverty, and failing institutions. The author argues that these conditions are directly contributing to the resurgence of military coups across the continent.
The letter, written by Liberian citizen Abraham Kolleh Morris, Sr., is addressed to the leadership of ECOWAS, the AU, and affiliated subregional entities. Using direct and unapologetic language, Morris says African citizens are exhausted by leaders who manipulate constitutions, silence dissent, and treat political power as personal property. He also criticizes regional bodies for remaining silent while democratic norms steadily erode.
Morris notes that coups do not arise in a vacuum but are products of environments where governments ignore constitutional limits, instrumentalize poverty, and allow corruption to flourish without consequence. He argues that regional institutions must accept responsibility for their inaction, which he says has allowed democratic backsliding to deepen.
The letter highlights the need for regional bodies to uphold constitutions rather than favor political leaders, stating that overlooking term-limit changes or electoral interference legitimizes instability. It calls for urgent action to confront inequality, warning that a continent where millions face hunger cannot maintain peace. Morris describes poverty as a predictable result of policies designed to benefit elites over citizens.
Justice, he writes, must become a standard rather than an exception. According to the letter, impunity has become a shadow constitution in Africa, where corruption and abuse of state power rarely carry consequences. Citizens, especially young people, see the failures clearly, even when institutions pretend not to.
Morris also stresses that economic dignity must be treated as a basic requirement, arguing that development cannot move forward when ordinary Africans remain trapped in engineered poverty. He urges regional bodies to engage citizens meaningfully rather than through symbolic summits and ceremonial statements that do little to solve real problems.
The letter concludes that coups are symptoms of deeper governance failures, not simply military ambitions. Each recent takeover, he notes, followed longstanding grievances ignored by national and regional bodies. Preventive intervention, he argues, must replace reactive condemnation.
According to Morris, Africa needs enforcement systems that protect constitutional order before crises erupt, economic structures that empower young people before desperation fuels chaos, and justice mechanisms that intervene before frustration becomes revolt. Stability, he says, cannot grow in systems built on compromised institutions.
The author reminds ECOWAS and the AU that they are custodians of continental order, not bystanders. He asserts that the people of Africa are demanding accountability and that the time for decisive action is overdue. Ending his message with a pointed warning, he writes that history is watching and so is a generation unwilling to inherit the failures of the past.
Signed as a citizen of Liberia and of Africa, Morris presents the letter as a call for renewal, urging regional bodies to prove they are defenders of the people rather than protectors of presidents.
