May 2021
By PROF Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua
Article 81 of the Constitution of
Chad stipulates that “In case of
vacancy of the Presidency of the
Republic for any cause, … the
duties of the President of the Republic, …
are provisionally exercised by the President
of the National Assembly … In every case, it
proceeds to new presidential elections at least
forty-five (45) days and ninety (90) days at
most after the vacancy is opened.”
Yet, when Idriss Déby died on April 20,
2021, the military put his son, Gen Mahamat
“Kaka” Déby, a four-star general in
his place. Debby died at the battle front in
launching an attack against the FACT (Front
pour l’alternance et la concorde au Tchad)
mounted a border attack from Libya, just
a day after provisional election results projected
he would win a sixth term in office at
the helm of the country. Immediately, afterwards,
the government and parliament were
dissolved, contrary to clear dictates of the
Chadian Constitution (for example, article
95 thereof).
This action, which clearly constitutes a
coup d’état has been endorsed by one of the
major superpowers in the sub-region, Nigeria.
In a BBC interview, its Foreign Minister,
Geoffrey Onyeama, indicated that it was a necessity,
in the face of the security threat Chad
faces, to “avoid a power vacuum.” France, the
former colonial authority which continues
to rule Chad remotely from Paris, has also
agreed to this formular, even claiming that the
President of the National Assembly “refused”
to take up that position.
Yet, in 2000, the then OAU, before its demise,
instituted the Lomé Declaration on Unconstitutional
Changes in Government. One
of the grounds for unconstitutional changes
is a coup d’état, as has been committed by the
Prof Kwadwo