BURUNDI'S CNDI REPORT; NKURUNZIZA'S QUEST FOR SIT-TIGHT LEADERSHIP

A characteristic of leadership in Africa is sit tight rulers;
people who occupy the office of the Head of State and don't want to relinquish power at some point. History is replete with a lot of examples. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt ruled as a military man for over 30 years. Paul Biya of Cameroon has been president since 1982. Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been president of Algeria since 1999. Of course, you cant mention sit-tight rulers without mentioning Libya's Muammar Gaddafi who ruled Libya for over four decades. The Arab Spring helped remove some of them, but many remain.
Last year, Burundi came to the spotlight over president Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term in office despite the constitution prescribing a maximum of two terms of five years each. This sparked off mass protests that were met with a violent crackdown by the government in which over 100 persons lost their lives. He came into office in 2005 and so he ought to have spent two terms already. However, he argued that since he didn't assume power through elections in 2005, that first term could not be counted. To him, he was simply running for a second term.

Unfortunately the Constitutional court gave judgment in his favour and permitted him to contest. Given the repressive circumstances in the country in which over a hundred protesters died, there is no way we could expect the court to be independent enough to give a fair judgment. So he ran for president and won, expectedly.
Last year, Nkurunziza set up the CNDI, a commission to canvas public opinion on the
country's political system. It has now come up with a recommendation that could go through constitutional amendment. This recommendation is that term limits should be scrapped. In other words, a president can be allowed to run for the office as many times as he pleases. It is doubtful if the commission was independent. It is equally doubtful if that is what the people recommended. Even if the people did say so, it could be out of fear for their safety.
It is clear that it is a ploy by the government to extend its stay because if that recommendation is accepted by parliament and the constitution is amended, Nkurunziza will run again for the presidency and most likely win. If he could do that when the law prevented him, it will be much easier to do if it is made legal. Africa is truly far from exterminating autocracy.