In Botswana, the summit on constitutionalism and presidential term limits in Africa ended on Friday 8 July. The three-day summit brought together former heads of state, political leaders and members of civil society in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, at the bedside of a continent in the midst of a democratic crisis. The participants reaffirmed their commitment to defend democracy through a final declaration, called the Gaborone declaration. Summary of this meeting.
With our special correspondent in Gaborone, Christina Okello
After the declaration of Niamey in 2019, that of Gaborone reaffirms the importance of consolidating democracy in Africa. A democracy in crisis according to the many African countries where presidents are trying to extend their terms. In the final statement, the National Democratic Institute, organizer of this meeting, and its partners, regretted that ECOWAS refused to put in place a two-term limit at its last summit in June.
To rule out the possibility of presidents for life, the participants in Gaborone encouraged young people and women to become more involved in the political life of their countries, even if they recognize that certain heads of state prevent any democratic alternation. Faced with this impasse, NDI has highlighted examples of former heads of state who managed a peaceful transfer of power, like the Nigerien Mahamadou Issoufou. In participation by videoconference, the former head of state, now a mediator in the Burkinabe crisis, in particular, declared that “ there is life after power “.
“Democratic Bug”
Faced with this crisis of constitutionalism in Africa, certain participants in the conference, such as Cheikh Fall, director of the NGO Africtivistes, denounced a “ democratic bug “. He answers questions from Christina Okello.
What is your assessment of the state of democracy in Africa?
Sheikh Fall: The picture is dark. We have a small elite who come to power and to whom we entrust our votes, but who then confiscate that power and use it against us. It goes through the implementation of laws, which pass through the national assemblies, with mechanical majorities which will vote and without consultation. Therefore, this method of representing the population is obsolete and it is more or less abusing democratic values. So, all this constitutes elements which, today, for me, could make it possible to speak about a bug of the democracy in Africa. We have to think about new models.
The current model does not work? What model for Africa then?
The model that suits us, which is based on participatory democracy, where everyone has a say, where everyone participates. Sixty years after independence, we are still unable to talk about the issues of consultation of values and democratic achievements or limitations of mandates, or preservation of power for life. In some countries, they have known only two presidents, in others, they have known only twenty because there has been a series of coups d’etat. We need to imagine an endogenous model which reflects our realities, but which is based on a reflection carried out in an inclusive way, by the whole population. What is needed is to use the opportunities offered by the Internet, offered by cyberspace, to move towards a democracy that listens more, that hears even better, but also allows participation.
Senegal is currently facing the question of President Macky Sall’s third term, what pressure could you put on the president to prevent him from running for a third term?
We are seeing a backward step. Today, we can take everything Macky Sall said to Abdoulaye Wade in 2011 when he wanted to serve a third term and put it in front of him. And it’s going to stick to reality because he’s making the same mistakes as his predecessor. How much pressure can we exert? Call on all Senegalese to understand that this country, we have built it, that it is not the political authorities who are the basis of these democratic achievements. If we kicked out Abdoulaye Wade it’s because we were mobilized and it’s because we stood up to preserve our democratic gains. In the same way that Abdoulaye Wade did not resist us, it is in this same way that Macky Sall will not be able to resist us.