Third Termism in Africa: View from the African Cultural Lenses

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The failure of African leaders to hand over power when their mandatory term of office is over is becoming commonplace. This scenario has painted a bleak picture of the African continent on the international scene especially in the Western World. Many reasons such as abuse of state resources and fear of prosecution, no strong opposition, lack of succession plan, deliberate refusal to step down because of despotic and kleptocratic tendencies, addiction to resources and power, amongst others have been adduced in the existing literature to explain why the practice has become too often and prolonged. This paper argues that complete transportation of Western Democracy on Africans is a potential reason for this development. Democracy is the culture of the West and therefore, represents their way of life which cannot be purely implanted on Africans who have varied and unique cultures. I argue that Africa needs to redefine Democracy.