Presidential Terms and Political Inclusion in Africa
It is extremely
difficult to try and understand why African rulers never learn to learn. Term
limits could actually do most of them good than harm. Imagine if people like
Mugabe, Gaddafi and Museveni left office after 10 years? I guess we could be
having a continent full of Mandelas. Madiba never did anything extraordinary;
he only was human enough to get satisfied with what is enough.
The Case of Rwanda
Now President
Kagame of Rwanda has been given a green light to be president as much as he may
wish. I pity Kagame because by the time he reaches his 30th anniversary as
president he might not forgive himself for not retiring after his second
term. I know, for a fact, that Kagame has done very many known good things. He
has done bad things, as well, for instance his government stands accused of not
treating kindly those who hold opposing views. Rwanda’s human rights record has
never been doing very well either. The country has performed excellently in
development. But how tenable is development outside the realm of reverence of
human rights? I have not anything wrong with Kagame leading Rwanda as much as
Rwandans need him, or as much as he is capable of leading. However, I think, it
is wrong for any individual including Kagame, to imagine or to be led to think
that he/she is the only one who can best lead. Kagame has a chance and an
opportunity to tell his people “no thank you” and set a good precedence in his
own homeland of a thousand hills. Whether or not he will do it, time will tell.
Lessons from Gaddafi’s Libya
There is nothing
that Gaddafi did not do to his people in terms of genuine attempts to address
economic development. Methinks if economic empowerment and progress was the
only yard then everyone could fight all the evil external forces that unjustly
killed Gaddafi. But he had few of his countrymen in his defence because he had
suffocated his people through political exclusion. African rulers may need to
rethink their conception of legitimacy around economic development, I think
there is something even bigger in the name of social inclusion. It stretches to
management of opposition and accommodation of dissent.
Lessons from the West
We should never cheat
ourselves that western governments are efficient or even better than African
governments. Actually, in my view, most of them are worse and others outright
‘evil’ but they have well mastered the art of political inclusion and
successfully created a sense of patriotism that no weapon can conquer. We
invest little or nothing to foster patriotism in Africa, our leaders engage in
patronage and purchase of political loyalty which is never sustainable. I wish
I could rectify this, unfortunately I will not become president; it is for the
rich.
Presidential Terms and Political Inclusion in Africa
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
December 22, 2015
Rating:
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