Obama to African leaders: No one should be president for life

In a speech to the African Union, President Obama, said African leaders who did not step aside at the end of their time in office risked 'instability and strife.'

|
Evan Vucci/AP
President Obama delivers a speech to the African Union, Tuesday, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Obama rebuked African leaders who refused to quit power.

President Obama has called on African presidents to respect their constitutions and step down when their terms end.  

Speaking during a keynote address to the African Union, a member organization of 54 African nations, at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mr. Obama urged the AU to use its authority to help make sure African leaders stick to their term limits and follow their constitutions.

"No one should be president for life," Obama said.

"I just don't understand" the phenomenon of leaders who refuse to step aside when their terms end. "There's still so much I want to get done to keep America moving forward. But the law is the law and no one is above it, not even presidents," Obama said. "And, frankly, I'm looking forward to life after being president. It will mean more time with my family, new ways to serve, and more visits to Africa."

Refusal to step down from office has led to political strife in many African nations. In November 2014, Burkina Faso’s Blaise Campaore was forced to resign after his plans to extend his 27-year rule were met with massive protests. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni secured a change to the constitution in 2005 allowing himself a third term. He still holds the nation's highest post after first assuming office in 1986. More recently, Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term despite controversy over whether he was eligible to run again. A United Nations observer mission said the elections were not inclusive free and credible. 

Obama's speech on Tuesday closed his five day Africa trip. The president first flew to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to attend a US-sponsored business development summit. Throughout his visit, Obama spoke out against corruption.

While in Kenya, the president stressed the stifling effect of corruption on the country’s promise for prosperity and urged Kenya to hold "visible" trials to tackle corruption, the BBC reported. 

“Across the country, one study shows corruption costs Kenyans 250,000 jobs every year – because every shilling that’s paid as a bribe could be put into the pocket of somebody who’s actually doing an honest day’s work,” The Christian Science Monitor reported. “If someone in public office is taking a cut they don’t deserve, that’s taking away from the people who are paying their fair share...  It is important that not only low level corruption is punished but folks at the top if they are taking from the people."

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Obama to African leaders: No one should be president for life
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0728/Obama-to-African-leaders-No-one-should-be-president-for-life
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe