Multi-termism in headwinds amid protests in Togo, Uganda

For years, a clique of African leaders has espoused the age-old tendency of tinkering with their countries’ constitutions in pursuit of multiple terms in office.

Driven by what appear to be incurable bouts of megalomania, these leaders seem to be hell-bent on ensuring they remain the undisputed kings of their roosts indefinitely.

Many of them view themselves as God’s chosen, and are apparently unable to visualise their countries’ future without them at the helm.

Amid Africa’s inexorable march towards the idyll of modern democracy, matters seem to be coming to a head for this increasingly unpopular and antiquated breed of leaders,

That certainly appears to be the case for Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé, who for weeks has tasted the fury of hundreds of thousands of citizens demonstrating against his regime.

PROTESTS

The protests, which have come amid demands for constitutional reviews limiting presidential terms to two five-year periods, culminated in a general strike on Friday.

Matters have not been easier for Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, whose country has for some days been the theatre of absurd melodrama even right inside the National Assembly.

Having risen high on the list of leaders yearning for practically unlimited terms in office, Museveni is under pressure to think twice.

Suddenly in the sights of oppositionists, he is under pressure to prepare for eventual exit from the Ugandan presidency.

Despite the pressure, the headstrong Museveni seems to have pulled all stops in a bid to perpetuate his hold onto power.

AGE LIMIT

Tellingly, his latest ploy has been to attempt — with help from cronies — to do away with the constitutional age limit of 75 years for future presidential candidates, evidently including himself.

At 73, the strongman seems to be aware that he can easily be barred from running by simple virtue of his age.

Like Museveni and Gnassingbé, a handful of other denizens of the African political scene also appear set to stay put, defying signs of the times.

Stubbornly ignoring the writing on the wall, members of this rogue’s gallery are apparently averse to graciously bowing out of power.

Among them are leaders who have for years lorded it over a patchwork of troubled  countries, including the two Congos and Burundi.

Seemingly determined to defy the laws of natural attrition and the simple prospect of mortality, the leaders are determined to sit pretty at any cost.

Blinded by their imagined indispensability, they are loath to brook any challenge to their authority, as is evident in countries like Equatorial Guinea.

Unfortunately, in a continent where sycophancy has been refined to a fine art, some veteran leaders have fanatic followers and vast loyalist support groups. Rwanda and President Paul Kagame are a case in point. 

FEUDALIST HEROES

It is these entities and individuals that effectively prop their feudalist heroes up whenever their autocratic tendencies are challenged.

Ironically, the chaos in Togo and Uganda comes amid the pomp and panoply that appropriately marked the orderly regime change in Angola on Tuesday.

José Eduardo dos Santos handed over the baton of power after a 38-year presidency. 

Dos Santos exited from the pinnacle of power as Africa’s second longest serving leader, just behind Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

STEP DOWN

Paradoxically, while the latter is not expected to step down any time soon, dos Santos’ departure was received with mixed feelings.

Amid reports that he left office because of failing health, there were also suggestions that he would continue calling political shots from the sidelines.

Whatever the veracity or otherwise of such claims, as if by some stroke of coincidence the leader of the country’s main opposition party, Isaías Samakuva, followed suit the following day. He called it quits as leader of Unita. 

Impressively, he had earlier promised to do so whether the party won the August 23 presidential election or not.

Evidently, in political terms, Angola is set for a breath of fresh air that the rest of Africa could do with.

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