The Phenomenal Effect of Power on African Presidents

I’ve often wondered how sweet the seat of power is, one so sweet that it defies all logic regarding leadership. There are a host of explanations as to why the phenomena of clinging onto power is an African one, most based on inherited colonial systems that denote lack of democratic awareness, amongst other things. None though, sufficiently explains how former oppression liberators-tuned-presidents end up doing the very thing that brought them into prominence in the first place – that of clinging onto power.Senegal’s President Wade is one person whose recent attempts at going against his country’s constitution and seeking a third-term presidency are as baffling as they are disappointing. The 85-year-old leader is one of the most prominent presidents on the Continent, and in his twelve years, has made Senegal a model of democracy for Africa. Wade once said that, “I will tread on no corpses to get to the presidential palace.” It is ironic that his recent third seven year-term bid, which is based on a constitutional technicality, has caused riots and a handful of deaths against the octogenarian’s quest to remain in office. Technically speaking, he will be 92 by the time he finishes his mandate, if successful.Someone one said, “The steps of power are often steps on sand.” For him to ruin his legacy as one of the founding fathers of African independence; a campaigner of democratic rights and an all round ‘African renaissance man,’ is simply incomprehensible. What is it exactly, about that seat? Will the likes of Mandela and Nujoma always be the exception to the power-clinging phenomena that characterizes African presidents? Since independence in 1960 Gabon had known only two leaders, with its current president a son to the late President Bongo. The same applies for Togo, where current President Gnassingbé is son to late President Gnassingbé Eyadema. Events from the Arab Spring were an apt illustration of people pushing back against their leaders’ grips onto power. Equatorial Guinea’s presidents have both been from the same family, since its independence from Spain in 1968. Zimbabwe’s Mugabe is one of the last octogenarian Presidents, and has ruled the country for the last 30 years. It is interesting, for lack of a better word, that these ‘life-presidencies’ rarely, if not at all, develop sterling economies in their time, or seek to genuinely end the poverty that their citizens suffer.Whatever his intentions, President Wade has surely left the people of Senegal transfixed. And crestfallen. At least I know I am.