When
the new government took over in The Gambia earlier this year, people danced in
the streets and hoped for a brighter political future that would dispense with
fear and antiquated laws.
The
coalition campaign agenda principally included a Presidential two- term
limit. In other words, no president will
be in power for life.
Presidential
term limit provides a way to deliver power into the hands of the people and
strengthen democracy. It changes
national goals from individual power of the leaders to public service and the
good of country.
Fossilized
leadership which entrenches itself through manipulation and control of party
politics is an anathema to the principles of democracy and growth. And
democracy is something that goes beyond simply being an inheritance for
citizens of our country.
Gambians
have had more than our fair share of political leaders with megalomaniac and
monopolistic political tendencies who continued to rule and refused to give way
even though it was obvious that the time for change had come. Presidential term
limits were/are intended to, among other things, protect a democracy from
becoming a de facto dictatorship where a leader would effectively have monopoly
of power with the likelihood of almost declaring himself/herself ‘president for
life’ as Yahya Jammeh desired to cling to power in the example of the reality
that obtained in Uganda and Zimbabwe. This can suffocate new talent and stifle
a democracy.
The
two-term limit provision is a very important feature in the constitution of the
most powerful democracy: The United States of America. Section 1 of the 22nd
amendment to the US Constitution provides that:
No
person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no
person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more
than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall
be elected to the office of the President more than once.
It
has often been said that whilst American Presidents leave office with dignity
and grace, Westminster Prime Ministers cling to power to the very end and are
often forced out of office in indignity and disgrace.
The
empirical evidence demonstrates that there may be merit in this and this is one
reason why the Gambian people must add their voice to limit the tenure of
president to two terms or ten years.
Some
95 countries worldwide have term limits of two terms for their Heads of
Government and we must do everything to make The Gambia become the 96th country
to have term limit.
In
our relatively young life as an independent nation, we have had more than our
fair share of good and bad experiences. Gambians have seen some of the darkest
days, and have experienced some of the most remarkable changes since we
attained independence with significant and historic constitutional measures
which are designed to put power back into the hands of the ordinary people.
Re-defining
our democracy in a way that reflects the thinking of today’s people, and
defending the people’s right to decide and command their Government can very
well emerge as the single most important legacy our generation leaves behind.
There
remains a constituency of persons scattered far and wide throughout The Gambia
who believe our system of governance should morph into a creature that
resembles the American system of governance. In America, a presidential
election is held every four years; and Americans find themselves at the polls
principally to elect a man or woman who they feel suits the job. However, the
man or woman who secures the job is only permitted to hold that position for
four or eight years.
I have always opined that the American system
of limiting the number of terms a president is elected is a significant and
historic constitutional measure which is designed to put power back into the
hands of the ordinary people.
Benefits
of Presidential Term-limit
Applying
term limits to persons who serve as President can have a significant and
positive impact on governance.
It
is a democratic principle to ensure that just as someone wins such a high
office, and earns such a privilege, the way is left open for others to also
aspire to high office.
There
can be no monopoly, no lease, no mortgage, and no sense of ownership of the
position of president.
This
means that there can be no more open-ended dictatorial leadership. You serve,
you do your best for a stipulated time, you give way to someone else.
When
we talk about transfer of power, this is how to ensure that it’s carried out in
a peaceful and orderly fashion, unlike the most recent experience we had.
And,
what this provision will also do becomes even more important for second term
presidents.
It
means that such a person will not be bogged down or driven by campaigning for
re-election to continue in that position beyond a second term.
That
person will have the time and focus to concentrate on service to the people by
capitalizing on the opportunity of a second term to complete transformative
change.
It
is a responsibility that each successive generation takes on, protect its, to
enhances it, promotes it and secures it for generations to come.
To
cease to change is to cease to exist and the time has come for change.
I
end by echoing the words of President Barak Obama who said:
Change
will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the
ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
If
I did not know better I would have sworn that there was a certain presidential
aspirant now in government who campaigned on the platform, among many other
promises, that the term of the president would be limited to two terms only.
That promise certainly took on wings and flew into the political abyss.
