Another African election has ended as expected. President Yoweri Museveni will be declared the winner, extending his rule to nearly 40 years.
He is 81 years old and has been the only president most Ugandans have ever known.
This is not democracy. It is endurance politics.
Africa continues to struggle with leaders who refuse to leave power.
Elections are held, but the result is predetermined long before the first vote is cast.
The justification is always familiar: Stability, experience, security. Yet no nation is stable when power belongs to one individual for life. Stability without accountability is merely control.
The greatest cost is borne by the young. Africa is the youngest continent in the world, yet its political space is dominated by elderly men who have ruled for decades.
Young people are reduced to spectators in decisions that shape their future. Over time, frustration grows and trust in politics erodes.
Kenya’s own experience offers useful lessons. Concentrated power weakens accountability. Regular leadership change, however messy, forces renewal. It compels leaders to perform, to listen and to respect limits.
History is kinder to leaders who step aside than to those who cling on until the very end.
Quote of the Day: “The best government rests on the people, and not on the
few, on persons and not on property, on the free development of public opinion
and not on authority.”
—American historian George Bancroft died on January 17,
1891
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