1 July 2009
Niamey — Responses were mixed in Niger to union leaders' call for a 24-hour work stoppage on 1 July to protest a planned constitutional referendum to allow President Mamadou Tandja to remain in power.
President Tandja, who had insisted he would step down after his constitutionally mandated two terms, in recent weeks has not acknowledged a ruling by the country's highest court deeming illegal a change to the article limiting presidential terms.
On the day of the declared strike, taxis were plentiful even as markets were emptier than usual by mid-day in the capital Niamey.
Halidou Djibo, a student at Abdou Moumouni University, told IRIN the referendum is inevitable. "The proof is the dissolution of the constitutional court, which did not go along with his calls [for the referendum]. The new court will be under his control and do all he requests."
The country's highest court ruled the referendum was illegal three times before President Tandja de facto dissolved the court by decree on 29 June. The president suspended articles stipulating how members are nominated and the length of their terms.
Niamey business owner Djibrilla Yayé told IRIN he is ready to fight for the rule of law. "One cannot govern for 10 years and [then] want to change the laws in order to stay in power for eternity."
But Moussa Ismaïla, a businessman from the northern business hub Agadez, discounted criticism that changing the constitution would be unconstitutional. "What is a democracy? Is it not the will of the people? If the majority of us want him to continue, we vote yes. If people do not want him to stay in power, they vote no and he leaves."
Donor governments have called for Niger's leaders to respect constitutional order.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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What in the world is wrong with Africans?
You come to power after somebody relinguishes power to you and when it is your turn to leave for somebody else to come and continue governing the country, you decide that you will change the constitution so that you can stay on forever.
This story is not akin to Niger alone. Gambia's Jammeh is a virtual president for life, Cameroun's Biya swears that he will die in office, Nguema of Equatoria Guinea says his country belongs to him, Museveni is telling his country folks that since he liberated them from Idi Amin, he should be seen as the emperor, Kenya almost burnt to the ground because Kibaki does not see why he has to lose an election, and the less said about countries in the north, the better, because they are all ruled by fiefdoms.
Now with Niger, a poor landlocked country that relies on foreign countries to feed its people, is in the throes of a constitutional crisis, because the president wants to stay on forever and when the constitutional court ruled otherwise, he dissolves the court and is replacing them with his hand picked men who will do as he pleases.
The whole world is saying no to this power grab, but the guy is unperturbed and is marching on at full throttle. He will continue on this path until the men in uniform pounce on him, either kill him or disgrace him by putting hin in a small windowless roomm, lock the door and throw the key away.
My question is: Why can't African presidents behave like the rest of the world, leave office peacefully as is being practiced in Ghana and Nigeria for example, so that they can be respected as elder statesmen? Why do they have to create situations where the people will rise up against them, give excuses to the men in khaki to come and depose them, thereby subjecting them to public humiliation and ridicule?
What in the world is wrong with the African mind? Will somebody please tell me?
Just leave the poor country alone to settle its own differences. Too many hands in the same pot spoil the brew. How can foreigners seem to know more about what exist on the ground than the locals? Same way the World Bank and IMF dictated for Africa for decades to the extent that those greedy leaders and their poorly educated followers can't seem to think for themselves unless they get approval from the West who eventually turned around to blame the ill advised that they can't govern themselves. How can mere neighbors weep and morn more than the immediate family? Crocodile tears, of course – only to make things worse by setting one group against the other in endless battle with un-intended consequences.
Threat or no threat of economic sanctions, let the good people of Niger decide what is best for them. For my brethren up there in Niamey, all you need do is to look south of the border to see what the western-style “democracy” has done for the copy-copy “yessir-yesman” Nigerians. If you think that Mr. Tandja has the wherewithal to deliver quality leadership until he can adequately educate the public & politicians, alike about the principles of democracy, rights of the led and the responsibilities of the leaders by putting the public first, and about the electorates picking the right leader from a multitude of candidates with credible agenda and ideas plus the capacity to deliver & continue building the nation, precepts by precepts, from where the incumbent has stopped, then, by all means keep Mr. Tandja. Your future is in your hands not in some foreign tin-gods that do not have the best interest of your common folks at heart but prefer their own lackey that would sell your assets for peanuts while their choice of your leader wouldn't mind turning the guns on the locals that stand in its way so as to keep the spigot open for the West’s consumption. Good luck!
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