Military Reshuffles is the Wrong Prophylaxis for Coup D’etat in Africa: A Caveat to African Leaders

A day after soldiers in Gabon seized power and placed President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest following the disputed elections, various international media top stories featured Paul Biya of Cameroon and Paul Kagame of Rwanda probably fearing the spread of coup d’etat wasted no time to reshuffle their respective military. Using a qualitative research approach with an emphasis on content analysis, this article takes a deeper look into the political decisions made in Cameroon and Rwanda. As its theoretical underpinning, the article adopts political development theory that guides the discussion or argument throughout the paper. Succinctly, the article advanced the argument that reshuffling the military is the wrong prophylaxis for the spread of coup d’etat. It argues that the deteriorating political development in countries that recently experienced coup d’etat provides the incentives or grounds for the military to intervene on behalf of ordinary citizens and to save the state from further deterioration. It concludes with a caveat for any African leader whose country shares similar political idiosyncrasies with Gabon, Cameroon, and Rwanda contemplating to reshuffle their military. This is because the military is far distance away from the deteriorating political culture or development that provokes disenchantment and popular uprisings threatening the legitimacy of the government. Finally, the article draws African leaders attention to these complementary quotes “Ambition knows no father†coined by Jennes Sethi, and Ambition knows no loyalty developed by the author of this article.