Respecting Presidential Term Limits in Africa: The Example of President Festus Mogae of Botswana

Festus Gontabanye Mogae, the president of Botswana, will retire from office on March 31, 2008. In doing so, Mogae will not be stepping down voluntarily. He will not be doing so as a favour to his people. He will not be yielding to public pressure. It will not be because he has found a suitable successor or because he has completed all the important work that he started. It certainly will have nothing to do with his age. He is only 68.

President Mogae will step down from the presidency because of a very simple reason, one which he stated towards the end of his State of the Nation Address before the Botswana Parliament last Monday. Mogae said: “Mr Speaker, in accordance with the Constitution, I will leave the leadership of our country to His Honour the Vice President– a patriot, who I am sure will carry the mantle of leadership with distinction, as he has previously done.”

The Constitution of the Republic of Botswana allows Mogae, who took office on April 1, 1998, to serve as president for a maximum of 10 years. What makes Mogae’s impending departure worthy of comment is the rarity of such presidential adherence to the constitutions of Africa, especially when it comes to term limits. The inconvenience of presidential term limits is usually addressed by the incumbents through manipulation of their subjects and parliaments to amend the constitutions in order to abolish the said term limits.

Uganda’s President Yoweri T. Museveni performed a masterful act two years ago, when he used tricks and treats, threats and pretended innocence during the Kisanja [Fifth Term] scam that forced parliament to abolish presidential term limits. And now we are watching a similar spectacle in Cameroon where efforts are already underway to try and amend the constitution to enable President Paul Biya, who has ruled the country since 1982, to stand for re-election in 2011.

Mogae joins a select group of African leaders who have chosen the law over greed, principle over expediency, national interest over personal interest. The small list includes South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Mali’s Alpha Omar Conare, Mozambique’s Joachim Chissano and Tanzania’s Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa. These are leaders who ascended to power through clean and non-violent means, led their countries with honour and did not try to hang on to power. Mandela and Chissano chose not to stand for re-election although they were constitutionally eligible to do so. It is tempting to give full credit to Mogae and other leaders who have heeded the law.

Yet the people who deserve a pat on the back are the citizens of their countries who did not attempt to organise Kisanja [third term] scams on behalf of the incumbent president. Indeed Mogae paid tribute to every citizen of Botswana, “young and old, for choosing to make our country what it is today, a country that has chosen the path of peaceful political contest over conflict, progress over regression; a country with a rich democratic political tradition and something positive to demonstrate and contribute to the rest of the world.” It is the people who must take ultimate credit or blame for the happenings in their land.

It is not surprising then that the debate and speculation in the Botswana media is not about Mogae, but about the nature and expected leadership style of Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, the man who will become president on March 31, 2008. Time will tell what sort of leader Gen. Khama will be, just as history will, in due course, pronounce its judgment on the Mogae presidency. What is relevant today is that Botswana, with all its unresolved social, economic and political problems, has added an element of predictability to its already established tradition of smooth transitions from one president to another. You will recall that when Sir Seretse Khama, Botswana’s first president, died in office in 1980, power transferred to Vice-President Ketumile Masire without much fanfare.

When Masire voluntarily retired from the presidency in 1998, he handed over to Mogae, who had been vice-president since 1992. Just before he retired, Masire made sure that the constitution was amended to limit presidential service to a maximum of ten years. And rather than feel handicapped by Masire’s parting gift to his country’s governance, Mogae paid the kind of tribute to his predecessor that one rarely hears from African leaders.

In his address to parliament last week, Mogae said: “The achievements our country has registered over the last ten years of my administration would not have been possible without the firm foundation of values, principles and commitment, which was laid by my predecessors, Sir Seretse Khama and Sir Ketumile Masire. I thank and pay special tribute to those great compatriots for the inspiration they left me and our successive generations.” Notwithstanding its many unresolved problems, Botswana is a lucky nation to have had three presidents so far who were committed to genuine nation building. That Botswana is thriving without Seretse Khama Sr. and Masire, and that it will likely continue to thrive long after Mogae’s retirement, is the single most important legacy of these gentlemen. It is a circumstance that gives me hope and pride as an African.

By The Monitor (Uganda), Muniini K. Mulera