Africa’s Presidents for Life: When Constitutions Become Tools of Personal Rule
Africa’s democratic crisis is not caused only by military coups. Some of the continent’s most damaging assaults on democratic succession occur inside parliaments, constitutional courts and carefully managed referendums. Elected presidents remove term limits, restart the presidential clock and reshape succession rules to remain in power. A constitution should restrain those who govern. When its provisions are repeatedly tailored to the incumbent, it becomes an instrument of personal rule.