A picture of some African leaders
As a Ghanaian when I sit and observe what is happening politically in Guinea, it makes me ask myself Africa will we ever learn?
I am very sure I am not the only one asking myself these questions but other Africans alike will be asking themselves the same thing as well.
This is because it seems we never learn our lessons from the era’ of some military juntas in the 1980s and 90’s a clear example being what has happened in Guinea.
The worrying third-term agenda by some African leaders massaging constitutions in their favour to prolong the agreed term of office they are supposed to serve is becoming one too many.
My question first goes to the main regional bloc the African Union, apart from collaborating for trade and other developmental and diplomatic duties, what have they done to educate leaders that join the fold because they are now presidents that when your term of office is done leave peacefully for the next person to come that is what we call democracy.
But unfortunately, Lord Actons' popular cliché in 1887 comes to play here where "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely great men are almost always bad men even when they exercise influence and not authority."
Is this what haunts them when they finally get the power they have been yearning for to serve the people?
A typical example currently is President Alpha Conde of Guinea now, you were democratically elected by your people but his decision to still cling on to power has plunge Guinea into another thing I will call ‘’political situation again’’ these are just a few of such issues that have plunged countries in the West African sub-region into such situations.
The Ivorian president Alhassane Quattarra is also on that same tangent and I wonder what the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) is doing about it or they are waiting for this to also explode in their faces before they issue statements or hasn’t the sub-regional body realized some of its leaders have gained notoriety for such practice.
Moving to the East African Community (EAC) Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame of Uganda and Rwanda respectively also started pretty well but their continuous stay in power has gotten some of their citizens talking yet you wonder what the regional body is dealing with this situation.
In Museveni’s case, he has always disagreed and had issues with a popular parliamentarian known as Bobi Wine in his country over his continuous stay in power.
The North, Central, and Southern African countries as well have the political issues they are dealing with as well.
But a zoom-in on Zimbabwe where I hope Mnangagwa has learnt a lesson from what happened to the late former president Robert Mugabe I hope he does not catch the third term agenda virus as well.
These African leaders need to understand that when they plunge their countries into such a state all they laboured for goes down the drain.
This also leads to praetorianism where the military take over because the so-called democratically elected leaders are still clinging on to power and they the military feel they can resolve the country’s issues which democratically does not augur well for the country.