Johannesburg — Not long after President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso announced his plan to amend the constitution which would extend his grip on power, mass protests broke out in the capital city of Ouagadougou, and action rights groups, civil society and international community ramped up pressures that led to his resignation on October 31, 2014.
Compaore had seized power in a coup in 1987, shortly after popular President Thomas Sankara was gunned down by a hit squad. One would think after holding onto power for 27 years, Compaore had fulfilled his presidential aspirations and prepared a peaceful transition. Clearly, this was not the case, and many African presidents have gone down the same road.
In 2015 Rwanda's parliament approved a Constitutional amendment to allow President Paul Kagame to seek a third term, allowing him to run for the 2017 elections. Kagame is currently on year four of his seven years - but then he qualifies for two five-year terms which could possibly keep him in power until 2034.
Trends like these have increased in a number of African countries where leaders have moved to undermine term limits or rig elections to remain in power.
In 2020 Alpha Condé of Guinea and Alassane Ouattara of Côte d'Ivoire followed in the footsteps of leaders that have changed their countries' constitutions, like Azali Assoumani of the Comoros, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, and Djibouti's Ismail Guelleh, who has been in office since 1999, Togo's Faure Gnassingbé, the late Idriss Déby of Chad, the late Pierre Nkurunziza from Burundi, and Egypt's Abd Al-Fattah el-Sisi.
In addition, there have been a worrisome series of coups that swept through several West African countries. Over about two years, leaders were removed by coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Sudan, with coup leaders citing various reason: lack of respect for human rights, inability to provide security or public services, such as education and health.
Is democracy losing favour in Africa?
Alongside these developments, there was, in many places, a rise in public backing for tossing out sitting governments amid reduced faith that democracy can solve pressing problems.
Data from Afrobarometer, an independent pan-African research network that tracks public attitudes, suggests plausible explanations for these declines in popular demand for democracy. The change seems to be driven primarily by failure of elected officials to deliver on popular expectations for democratic, accountable and responsive governance.
The Sahelian west African nation of Mali showed solid levels of popular support for democracy and rejection of non democratic alternatives, including military rule, for many years. But protests in mid-2020 reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the government's handling of an ongoing insurgency, the Covid-19 pandemic and inability to tackle high levels of corruption.
A month after street protests gathered strength and resulted in over a hundred deaths by fire from government security forces, rebellious military troops seized key installations, and the Mali government resigned. The coup - while officially condemned in Africa and internationally - was welcomed by the people in large-scale street celebrations.
Dr. Lekorwe Mogopodi, Associate Professor, University of Botswana/National Coordinator and Investigator for Afrobarometer said that in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso, growing concerns about security undermined satisfaction with democracy. In both countries, polls showed an exponential rise in citizens citing crime and security as their top policy priority. "This maybe helps to explain the welcome given to the coup in Mali," Mogopodi said.
Countries where conflict and declining standards of living, alongside persistent extreme poverty, show steadily erosion of popular faith in democracy. In Angola only 37 percent of the population interviewed supported democracy, in South Africa it was 40 percent, eSwatini 49 percent and Mozambique 49 percent.
Last month the Botswana government, in partnership with the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), hosted the second three-day Constitutional Term Limits Summit to address these challenges and to strengthen good governance and democracy in Africa. The Gaborone meeting was a follow-up to the October 2019 summit held in Niamey, the capital of Niger. This year's meeting was attended by military officials, lawmakers and institutional leaders.
"History has shown that democracy is essential for sustained peace, security and human development. Democracy must be protected, defended, cultivated through regular civic practice and education, never taken for granted and forever refreshed from generation to generation. Respect for constitutionalism promotes rule of law and political accountability, term limits in particular by facilitating regular transitions of power, help prevent sustained concentrations of political and economic authority that will gradually and inevitably undermine democracy," said NDI President Derek Mitchell.
"Constitutional principles including term limits also mitigate the risk of violence and national decline. Studies have shown that countries with regular, credible, transparent and inclusive elections are more stable, perform better economically and enable their people to flourish over the long run. Where the political process is open for all, the contributions of all - women, young people and other groups, unlock a nation's full potential," Mitchell said.
Women are key to successful democracies in Africa.
According to the African Union women make up about 50 percent of the African population, but they remain largely underrepresented in leadership roles across financial, investment and entrepreneurial markets. When it comes to politics and leadership, Rwanda leads the world with the number of women MPs, who represent 61 percent of members of the country's legislature.
Joyce Banda, the former president of Malawi said, "Africa has not done badly, I say this because we have had six women serving as presidents against all odds....There are some continents with over 200-year-old democracies who are still struggling to get one woman in office. This has happened because of our history. African women have led their nations, even before colonization.
"What women are saying now - that they want to participate more in leadership and in policy formulating tables - is not coming out of the blue", Banda said. "Colonization is what delayed us. As you would recall, when Kwame Nkuma, Jomo Kenyatta and others started fighting for independence, women stood to the occasion: the Winnie Mandelas and Albertina Sisulus who fought side to side with their brothers. All we are saying is that we are here, ready and just on time for us to take up leadership," she said.
Banda became Malawi's first female president in 2012 as only the second woman to lead an African country. She has been vocal over the years about inclusive leadership and fighting corruption. In 2017 she was accused of corruption over an alleged abuse of office and money-laundering offenses as part of the U.S.$250 "Cashgate" scandal, which erupted during her 2012-2014 term of office. She denied the accusations, saying it was a smear campaign launched against her for shaking up the status quo.
Vice President Kamala Harris insists that "the status of women is the status of democracy." The United States launched the 'Supporting Her Empowerment: Political Engagement, Rights, Safety, and Inclusion Strategies to Succeed' initiative. The aim is to support women's political participation and empowerment to build and sustain good governance and lasting democracy globally. This is a key component of the United States' 'Advancing Women's and Girls' Civic and Political Leadership Initiative', to which the United States pledged up to $33.5 million," said U.S. Department of State's Uzra Zeya, under secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
Why Are Term Limits Important?
Leaders who cling on to power have often been accused of corruption, being dictators and rigging elections which usually results in violent protests and instability. This happened in Uganda where 77-year-old President Yoweri Museveni has been in office since 1986. In November 2020, ahead of the national elections, protesters took to the streets to protest against the arrest of opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi - better known across Uganda and internationally - as singer Bobi Wine - who came out strongly against the Constitutional amendment extending presidential terms. During the demonstrations, more than 50 people were shot dead. But that didn't stop the march of Museveni's government, and the presidential Age Limit Bill was passed to scrap the limit of 75 years.
Accountability plus transparency through the ballot equals trust - Namibian President Hage Geingob
"As elected representatives, we can only build trust with voters when we are transparent and accountable – hence my mantra: Accountability plus transparency equals trust. Without effective governance, including accountability and transparency, the future of democracy and constitutionalism is bleak. We are not big men imposing our will on citizens through force or the barrel of the gun. On the contrary, we come through the ballot paper, the 'weapon' of choice for the third wave of African leaders," said President of Namibia Hage Geingob.
Democracy allows for free and fair elections, it also allows citizens to be free to speak against their leaders without the fear of being arrested. It enables them to choose their leaders freely. What happens, then, when 'big men' impose their own will on citizens?
In many countries where these amendments have taken effect, citizens protest them. In Cameroon before the constitution was changed, hundreds took to the street to protest against the amendment. Those arrested during protests were summarily tried and thrown in jail. Armed forces patrolled towns and highways to ensure that no further prospect of open resistance would happen while blocking independent media houses that usually allowed contrary views to be expressed. In 2008 term limits were removed from the constitution allowing president Paul Biya to serve indefinitely. Biya has been in power since 1982, at age 89, he is the oldest president in Africa.
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Despite leaders saying that the people want them to stay longer than two terms, a survey done by Afrobarometer indicates that leaders who stay for more than two terms are not what the people want. A survey in 34 African countries found that an average of 76 percent favor limiting their presidents to two terms, including a majority of 54 percent who "strongly support" term limits.
Mali's coup led to the Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which Mali is a member of to imposes sanctions on Mali. These financial sanctions were lifted in July 2022 following an ECOWAS leaders meeting in Ghana after Mali's military rulers agreed to return to civilian rule by March 2024 and published a new electoral law. But the country and the region continue to grapple with an extremist religious insurgency. Peacebuilding, scholars and community activists agree, must include incorporating local solutions to the growing hardships of daily life, amid conflict and climate change.
"All actors should support efforts to meet democratic and accountable governance aspirations of citizens across African nations and regions', Dr. Mogopodi said. "This will constitute a solid basis, productive and lasting partnerships with African states and non-state actors. Opportunities to provide development and other types of assistance to African nations and regional bodies must be leveraged towards the promotion of two key things: firstly, accountable governance, particularly by supporting citizen participation in the governance of their own societies and building and sustaining local civil society and media capacities to oversite government.
"Secondly, inclusive economic and social development, particularly job creating investments perhaps with the focus on visions where economic and social marginalization is providing fertile grounds for violent extremists," he said.
AllAfrica's reporting on peacebuilding in Africa is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
