After Compaore, Museveni should follow! After 27 years as - TopicsExpress

After Compaore, Museveni should follow! After 27 years as president, most regular politicians like Obama would be satisfied. But this rarely happens in Africa. The latest so called African chief to try to amend the Constitution to change term limits and allow him stand again is Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaore. But his attempt to extend his 27-year rule ended in angry protests on Thursday, with rampaging protestors setting parliament and the ruling party headquarters on fire. They ransacked the state TV, and also torched some MPs’ houses. Dozens of soldiers also joined the protest. The government resorted to Twitter to announce that it was calling off the bid to amend the Constitution. At week’s end, late breaking news indicated that Compaore had resigned. Although he worked hard to reinvent himself as a regional statesman, as African strongmen come and go, Compaore was one of a kind,power hungry and greedy president. He was the only serving leader on the continent who killed a close friend and predecessor for the job. In 1987, Compaore masterminded the assassination of his buddy and president, the charismatic Capt Thomas Sankara. Compaore’s fate has revived the old debate about why African leaders cling to the job so desperately even after being in it for decades. The common argument is that they are greedy for power and want to continue “eating.” But even that is hard to believe, because a corrupt president who cannot steal enough over 20 years doesn’t deserve the job. I was only alluding.