Mali’s parliament approves bill allowing the military government to rule for five years
Recall that, Mali’s leadership earlier proposed to extend transitional period by five (5) years against the demands of ECOWAS that, elections should be held in February 2022. This attracted heavy sanctions from the West African regional bloc.
In a new development, the country’s lawmakers on Monday February 21st, 2022 approved a bill allowing the military government to extend the transitional period for the proposed five years.
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The government also revealed that, the parliament has included a clause in the same bill which bars the current transitional leader, Assimi Goita from contesting for office after the approved period.
When the bill was first proposed, ECOWAS issued tough sanctions to against the west African country and the coup leaders. The regional bloc instructed member states to close all land and air borders with Mali, suspend non-essential financial transactions and freeze Malian state assets in ECOWAS central and commercial banks.
The sanctions trickled down to the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UEMOA) which also directed all financial institutions under its umbrella to suspend the country with immediate effect.
The junta’s lawyers have however filed a lawsuit against UEMOA on the 15th of February 2022 seeking a repeal of the UEMOA sanctions and also the suspension of their implementation. The lawyers premised their reasons on the negative effects such will have on the citizenry.
