Algeria And Africa’s Democratic Renaissance - Dr Wole Kunuji

In an earlier article, I argued that sit-tightism remains a major bane of democracy and constitutionalism in Africa. In the said article I defined sit-tightism as “wilful reluctance on the part of political leaders to relinquish power” even when it has become legally, politically and morally repugnant to hold on to power. Sit-tightism, I argued, is usually “facilitated by dictatorship and oiled by brutal repression of dissent and fundamental freedoms.” Strewn all over Africa are glaring examples of this malaise. Indeed, it is often as if Africa and her people are doomed to exist ad nauseam under the climate of sit-tightism. The more Africa strives to extricate herself from the clutches of sit-tightism, the more the continent is drawn into its vortex. Nothing explains this better than the recent political debacle in the northern African country of Algeria where President Abdelaziz Bouteflika refused to willingly relinquish power despite having occupied office for two decades. Indeed, Bouteflika had been sick and wheel-chair bound in the last six of those twenty years, yet this was not sufficient to deter his handlers. Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office was the ultimate casus belli that provoked the much needed public revolt that ended his despotic reign.

Why is the political class in Africa seemingly impervious to democratic suasion? Bouteflika and his supporters should have learnt from the recent experience of Robert Mugabe who was removed from office after serial attempts to hold on to power in his native Zimbabwe. Before his disgraceful ouster, Mugabe had led Zimbabwe for over three decades. Prior to the Mugabe episode, President Obasanjo of Nigeria had tried, unsuccessfully, to prolong his stay in office through a controversial constitution amendment process in 2006. Widespread condemnation of this obvious fraud forced him and his acolytes to abandon the project. The foregoing shows that Africans are becoming increasingly abhorrent of unconstitutional elongation of presidential tenure. This is to be commended, for it will help to entrench and foster the democratic culture that appears to have eluded Africa for several decades. But mere distaste for and resistance to sit-tightism is not enough. Positive legal and legislative action must be resolutely pursued to stamp it out completely across Africa.

Unfortunately, the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance does not seem to clearly and sufficiently address the challenge of sit-tightism on the continent. Although several provisions of the Charter highlight the aversion of the African Union for unconstitutional changes of government in member states of the Union, there is no specific prohibition of unconstitutional elongation of presidential tenure. While unconstitutional changes of government, mostly associated with military coup d’etats, have become relatively unfashionable and therefore rare in most parts of Africa, unconstitutional and immoral elongation of presidential tenure is still a clear and present danger throughout the continent. There is a need to revise the Charter to include a clause that addresses this gap. Specifically, there is a need for the Charter to mandate Member States of the Union to introduce tenure limits in their national constitutions. A two term limit, with each term consisting of four or a maximum of five years, should be enshrined in the constitution of each Member State. Additionally, the Charter must prescribe stringent sanctions to discourage unconstitutional elongation or extension of tenure by public office holders, especially Presidents and Prime Ministers. Only then can the Charter be truly effective in protecting democracy and constitutionalism on the continent.

In the post-Bouteflika era, Algerians must now go a step further. They must insist on a free and fair electoral process to elect new leaders that will take the northern African country out of poverty and underdevelopment. The democratic project in Algeria will not be complete until Algerians are allowed to genuinely elect their own leaders through a free and fair electoral process that is devoid of political encumbrances and manipulations in line with the spirit and letter of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, as well as the 2002 African Union Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa. Hopefully, this process can be initiated soon. Africa’s democratic credentials, as they currently stand, offer very little hope. But the much needed African democratic renaissance can start with the Algerian experiment.