Time Up For African Dictators 

The recent political crisis in Zimbabwe that led to the emergency exit of Robert Gabriel Mugabe from power after 37 years of abysmal administration, brings to limelight the acute leadership problem in Africa.
African leaders have always demonstrated a propensity for holding on to power for eternity. Their inordinate quest has caused many African countries to become slaves in the hands of dictators who rose like ‘messiahs’ to fight for the freedom of their people in the colonial times.
Some of the supposed ‘messiahs,’ on taking power, have transubstantiated into terrors to the chagrin of their own citizens who are going through hell and very harrowing times than they experienced under colonial leadership.
While it seems like a death sentence for many African Presidents to quit after a tenure or two, some of the so-called freedom-fighters-turned tyrants have ruled for more than three decades. They have become inebriates of power that death is the only authority that can separate them from office.
Top on the list of Africa’s longest serving leaders are Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Paul Biya, Yoweri Museveni, King Mswati, Omar al-Bashir, Idris Derby, Isaias Afwerki, Dennis Sassou Nguesso, Abedelaziz Bouteflika, Paul Kagama and Joseph Kabila.
Teodoro Mbasogo, 74, is the President of Equatorial Guinea. He assumed authority in August 1979 in a coup and has ruled for 38 years. He won the last election to extend his tenure by seven years. In July this year, he was elected life president of the ruling political party.
Jose Eduardo Santos has been Angola’s president since 21st September, 1979. He seized power after the death of his predecessor and has been ruling Angola since then. Santos, 73, has ruled his country for 36 years.
President Paul Biya of Cameroon became president following the resignation of his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, in November 1982. Biya served as Cameroon’s prime minister when Ahidjo was in the saddle.
Yoweri Museveni is the current Ugandan president, who assumed office since 29 January 1986, when his rebel group seized power. Since then, he has been in control. He won his country’s poll in 2016 to extend his 30 years rule by five years.
King Mswati is the King of the Kingdom of Swaziland, a land located between South Africa and Mozambique. He became King of Switzerland on 26 April, 1986, at the age of 18. He is one of the last absolute monarchs in the world.
Omar al-Bashir of Sudan became president in 1989 in a military coup against democratically-elected Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. He has been in command despite the accusation against him by the International Criminal Court of organising war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Idriss Derby, the Chadian president, took office in the face of an uprising against President Hissene Habre in December 1990 and has survived several rebellions against his own rule. He won election in 1996 and 2001 and won again after the elimination of term limits.
Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea got in the saddle since Eritrea’s independence in 1993. He has held on to power till date. Unfortunately, Eritrea is a one-party state. The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) is the only existing political party that can participate in election.
President Denis Nguesso of Republic of Congo has ruled for two tenures. First, he ruled as head of state between 1979 and 1992. He returned to power at the end of the 1997 civil war when his forces ousted former President Pascal Lissouba.
The Algerian President, Abedelaziz Bouteflika, has ruled his country for 18 years. He was a minister between 1963 and 1979 and eventually became president in 1999. He secured landslide election victories in 2004 and 2009 and went on to win a fourth term in office in April 2009. He ended the bloody civil war in the country in 2002.
Paul Kagame of Rwanda undertook office in 2000 when his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, resigned. Kagame commanded the rebel force that ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Joseph Kabila has been president of the Democratic Republic of Congo since January 2001. He took office ten days after his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, was assassinated.
The African dictators indicated above have steadfastly conserved fierce stranglehold on their countries, keeping their people in poverty and ignorance. Their greed threatens to plunge the entire continent and their countries into political convulsions to satisfy their egoistic ambitions to remain in power, long after their constitutionally prescribed tenures have elapsed.
Governance may not be an exacting science, but experience globally has demonstrated that four years is enough for leaders to prove their abilities. A second four is the maximum period to give way for new ideas and persons.
Africa will maintain its backward slide as long as leaders of this particular kind decline to quit at the appropriate time. Regrettably, it has become a curse on the continent.

By: Arnold Alalibo.