GUINEA-POLITICS: Possible Third Term for Conte Shakes Up Political Landscape

By Saliou Samb Reprint | | Print |

Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Jun 19 2001 (IPS) - Followers of President Lansana Conte have proposed constitutional amendments to allow their leader to run for a third term in 2003, drawing fire from the opposition.

Elected officials in Upper Guinea, most of whom belong to the ruling Unity and Progress Party (PUP), met last week at Kankan, some 600 kilometers from the capital, and issued a statement asking the president to look into amending the 1990 Constitution, which limits the head of state to two terms in office.

Opposition groups, assembled under the Coordination of the Democratic Opposition (CODEM), have vowed to fight the proposal.

“We’re against modifying the Constitution and very soon we’ll publicise this fact”, said CODEM spokesperson and former presidential contender Ba Mamadou.

Conte has kept his intentions to himself. Other regional leaders have abandoned similar attempts to prolong their tenure.

Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare has proclaimed his opposition to “presidency for life.” In Zambia, street demonstrations forced Frederic Chiluba to renounce an unconstitutional third term in office. And Kenya’s Daniel arap Moi recently abandoned a similar plan.

Article 24 of Guinea’s Constitution states that “the president of the Republic of Guinea shall be elected for a five-year mandate, which may only be renewed once”. Article 26 specifies that “only individuals between the ages of 40 and 65 may run for president”.

Conte was elected in 1993 and reelected in 1998. Born in 1935, he will be 68 in 2003, when the next presidential elections are scheduled to take place.

The Upper Guinea officials have proposed a referendum in hopes of circumventing the Constitutional provisions. In addition to removing term limits and doing away with the age restriction, they said they wanted the presidential term extended to seven years, from the current five.

“The people of Guinea must realize that the future of our nation and its children is inextricably linked to the continuance of General Lansana Conte. At the moment, this is an unassailable fact,” said Colonel Ibrahima Sory Diallo, the governor of Kankan.

“With war all around us and the instability plaguing the continent, our sub-region is under a serious threat,” added Kaba Conde, Kankan’s mayor and a member of the PUP. “I’m nursing the hope that our hardworking people will agree that we need to extend the presidential term of office.”

Mamadou, who ran in the 1998 presidential elections, assailed the proposed referendum. At 66, he is too old to run again. CODEM, the leading opposition coalition, is dominated by the Union Guinean People (RPG) and the Union for Progress and Renewal (UPR).

“If they can organize a referendum, that means they also could have organized the legislative elections, contrary to what the ruling party would have us believe for the past two years”, Mamadou said.

Legislative elections had been scheduled for Jun. 2000 but were postponed indefinitely due to a lack of funding, according to official accounts. The 1995 parliament, which was supposed to leave office in 2000, remains in place pending new polls.

“People have understood the impossibility of organizing legislative elections with rebel incursions at our borders, so why wouldn’t they understand how necessary it is to let President Conte to run for a third term? The context demands it if we’re to maintain peace”, asserted Deputy Sekou Mouke Yansane, the PUP’s international relations director.

Since September 2000, Guinea has been the target of armed attacks launched, according to the Conakry government, by Sierra Leone’s rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) with support from Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Alpha Conde, the RPG leader freed from prison in May, has been silent on the subject because his conviction on charges of capital crimes against the government stripped him of his civil rights. Conde was arrested in 1998 immediately after the elections, which were tainted by fraud allegations against Conte’s government. He was imprisoned for two years without trial until the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years after controversial legal proceedings late last year.

One lawyer, who requested anonymity, said modifying the constitution would cause “a serious blow to democracy. It is indefensible that someone should try, for personal reasons and no matter what the cost, to remain in power by circumventing the law”.

Gen. Conte came to power in a 1984 coup d’etat and survived two armed attempts to depose him – in 1985 and 1996. He was almost killed during the latter army mutiny.