IPNews-Monrovia: Former Liberian interim president Dr. Amos C. Sawyer, has underscore rigorous commitment by African leaders to โConstitutional Term Limitsโ, as the bestย option to maintaining peace and tranquility on the continent.
Delivering a statement at the just ended โConstitutional Term Limits summit in Niamey, Niger, Dr. Sawyer stated that he wonders why some leaders on the African Continent were so reluctant to leave office.
He said these questions continue to penetrate his mind from time to time, until now when the reflection on this question had mostly focused on how leaders responded to the opportunities and challenges of governance; such as: the opportunity to undertake a development agenda and the desire to complete its implementation; The challenge of coping with the vagaries of politics such as internal party succession struggles that require incumbents to hold on longer than they should; The existence of a toxic relationship with opposition parties and the fear of being consumed by it once out of office; and the condition of state fragility and weak institutions which allow leaders to arrogate to themselves excessive power. And the dreadful consequences of the abuse of that power, among many other reasons why leaders may not want to leave office.
The University lecturer told cross-section of former and current African leaders, including Civil society organizations and the media that while some leaders have been able to do many good things for their countries in view of their long stay in office; ultimately, (in the long run,) the disadvantages of protracted tenures can be more harmful to the leaders themselves and their legacies and to their countries than the good things these leaders do while they remain in office indefinitely.
โWe have seen what happens when leaders stay too long in power and take the place of institutions; when Rule of Law becomes a secondary principle; when human rights are only respected in speeches or scoffed at altogether; and when constitutionalism, a cardinal principle of governance, becomes meaningless. Peace is then undermined, violent conflicts become an option and, as Alexander Hamilton put it, human beings then have to rely on โaccidents and forceโ for their constitution rather than on โreflection and choice.โ ย Dr. Sawyer stated.
Dr. Sawyer further reminded delegates that the constitutional term limits summit provides an important step in the effort toward reducing the prospects of reliance on โaccidents and forceโ for the establishment of our constitutional orders in Africa, including the opportunity to reflect on the deeper meaning of constitutionalism as the moral, legal and institutional values that are articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all of our other international and regional chartersโvalues around which African leaders must develop conventional relationships and pass them on to succeeding generations; constitutions that must ensure respect for presidential term limits and the peaceful transfer of presidential power; constitutions that must allow opportunities for all our peopleโespecially our youth, women and marginalized groups.
