Mali

I don’t think there’s ever been a crisis within this bloc that just came out of the blue. Tell me, but I believe all budding crises have always been signalled by grievances aired by the citizenry, if only Ecowas was as driven before the fact. And I think Mali’s situation is yet another such lost opportunity to nip a problem in the bud.

I think, just as the way we in this part of the world build infrastructure for political points and no preventive maintenance thereafter, is the same way we create all the fine democratic structures, Unions and institutions but don’t use the summits to reinvigorate the values.

In fact, if the saying that “development is maintenance” is anything to go by like I think it is, our underdevelopment is because of the lack thereof.

So, like a once overvalued power station soon suffers power cuts, or a barely inaugurated work is soon in disrepair, just like relationships lack remediation, even renewal of vows for some, resulting in avoidable divorces, infidelity, and unaffordable polygamy, so can the consequences of the infuriating inefficiency and questionable ethics of politicians be linked to the lack of maintenance of the values they represent.

Maintenance is important, and that’s why in my opinion, that Extraordinary Ecowas Summit and the ordinary measures thereof was all yesterday's work... which meeting, by the way, consisting of some delegates who are as scheming as the root cause of the crisis, I never expected the civilian demonstrators nor the military to be understood, and I'm not saying justified.