Teodoro Obiang, Africa's longest-serving president, has decided to extend his almost 37-year rule over Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich nation, in the elections this Sunday. Although he is already 73 he "will probably win by a landslide because he controls every aspect of the government and society, said John Bennett, the former U.S. ambassador to the West African nation from 1991 to 1994." Many leaders from Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda and Burundi oppose the moves by lawmakers to extend term limits which has sparked some violence in some cases and "shone a spotlight on democracy in Africa".
This reminds me on when America set a 2-year limit on a presidential term in the 22nd Amendment. This was pass in 1947 after Franklin Delano Roosevelt had broken the tradition and ran for a 3rd term. I believe it is better to set limits on how long a president can serve in office to ensure they don't abuse that power and to prevent any branch of government from becoming too powerful.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-24/africa-s-longest-serving-president-set-to-extend-37-year-rule
Olivia Browne Period 6
ReplyDeleteI agree with J Sway that there should be a limit to terms of presidents.