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POLITICS-AFRICA: President-for-life Syndrome
Analysis by Ali Idrissou-Toure
COTONOU, Aug 20, 2003 (IPS) - Africans are fighting a new war: president-for-life
syndrome.
While Nelson Mandela of South Africa has stepped down voluntarily just
after one term of office, his colleague Robert Mugabe, who has been in
office since 1980, shows no sign of retiring from active politics in
neighbouring Zimbabwe.
In Zambia, it took the fury of the public to force Frederick Chiluba to
climb down from seeking a third term of office in 2001. Malawians, shackled
for 27 years by dictator Kamuzu Banda, also rejected Bakili Muluzi's bid for
a third term early this year.
But such successes are rare, particularly where the civil society is
weak. A point in case is Namibia, where Sam Nujoma is trying to change the
constitution to allow him to run again. Even where the civil society is
strong like in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the East
African country for 17 years, is still trying to bulldoze his ways and seek
another term of office.
Ugandans, opposed to Museveni's third term, remember the reign of Idi
Amin, who died, aged 80, in exile in Saudi Arabia last week. Amin appointed
himself president-for-life during his chaotic rule between 1971 and 1979.
Heated debate is also in progress in Benin where the public is resisting
attempts to change the country's constitution to allow President Mathieu
Kerekou to run for a third term of office in 2006.
''We must fight with all the means at our disposal for change in Benin
and the rest of Africa,'' says Albert Tevoedjre, former minister of planning
in Benin.
Benin's 1990 constitution provides "for a five-year term, renewable only
once''. It also sets out 70 as the maximum age for a person to run for the
country's highest office.
Kerekou, whose two terms of office ends in 2006 when he will be 73 years
old, has ruled Benin for 28 years, including the period he seized power in
1972.
Those who have joined the debate in Benin include former president Emile
Derlin Zinsou, 85, as well as former ministers Theodore Holo and Kouboura
Osseni.
Much of the Beninois press also opposes changing the constitution.
In Gabon, the constitution has just been revised so that president Omar
Bongo may run as long as he likes. It will be up to the voters to decide
whether to retain or vote him out of office.
Bongo has ruled the oil-rich Gabon for 36 years.
The constitution of Togo has also been changed to allow President
Gnassingbe Eyadema to run next year, after 36 years in office.
Some Togolese argue that ''no one else can maintain stability in Togo
except Eyadema''. Others, however, wonder ''what would happen if Eyadema
should die?''.
In Guinea, President Lansana Conte has also been 'granted' opportunity to
run as long as he likes.
The problem is the same in north Africa, where Tunisia's constitution has
undergone modification to allow President Zine Abidine Ben Ali to run in
2004 for a fourth term. This is the same Ben Ali who promised, upon
defeating Tunisia's first president, Habib Bourguiba in 1987, to put an end
to the practice of ''president-for-life'' syndrome.
The ruling parties in Africa hardly pay attention to the opposition,
since they enjoy the monopoly of the state-owned media.
To justify their claims to power, African governments often refer to
former colonial powers Britain and France where no limitations exist on the
number of terms of office the president may serve, nor the age of the
candidates.
But African leaders also ignore the fact that even if French President
Jacque Chirac runs for a third term in 2007 in spite of his advanced age (he
will be 75), he cannot count, certainly, on automatic re-election.
When Eyadema, Bongo, Conte, Ben Ali, or Kerekou campaign for
constitutional reforms, they are always sure that they will be re-elected.
Their supporters will employ ''election technology to insure their
victory'', including the illegal use of government resources, according to a
columnist in the privately-owned Beninois daily, La Nouvelle Tribune.
The electoral processes in most African countries are flawed.
The practice of ill-timed constitutional reforms weakens and discredits
Africa's young democracies, and poses the risk of violence and attempts at
coups d'etat. As UN Secretary General Koffi Annan recently warned, there can
be no democracy without a change of power.
This is a challenge for South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki and his
Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo who have committed themselves,
through the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a blueprint
for Africa's recovery, to sell Africa to investors in exchange for better
governance.
Last week the two leaders persuaded Charles Taylor of Liberia to step
down and go into exile in Nigeria. (END)
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