My Full BBC response to term limits 10 July 2009.
No! Those persons who have been following my recent discussions online will be shocked by my answer but let me explain why I say no to term limits.
Last year in celebration of Dominica’s 30th Independence Anniversary I completed a nine-part series for The Chronicle and www.theDominican.net entitled The Rule of Law vs the law of the jungle. Any quick Internet searches will reveal those papers. Among several other issues I highlighted a string of countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean that had suffered economically, politically and socially at the hands of leaders turned tyrant!
I showed a pattern of behaviour that led to dictatorship; even by those who got in through free and fair elections! In most cases it began by changing or amending the constitution to allow an incumbent head of state either an extra term or unlimited reign in office. I will not repeat the examples here because they are too many for this short response. However, we have two current examples staring us in the face at this moment, Niger and Honduras!
I have just recently published a paper on the Dominica News Online entitled “Consolidating democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” http://www.dominicanewsonline.com/all_news/commentary/6519.html - In this paper I also touch on term limits regarding the situation in Honduras and Niger. The constitutions of both countries have term limits enshrined, but that did not stop their leaders from seeking to extend their term in office.
On 28 June 2009, the Supreme Court, acting in accordance with Article 237 of the Honduran constitution, ordered the Honduran military to remove President Manuel Zelaya, for breaching the constitution i.e. seeking to extend his term in office. And the rest is recent history –the OAS wants him reinstating but has the OAS stated that he should respect the constitution and term limits? No!
Niger’s constitution allows a president to serve a decade in office, two five-year terms. In May 2009, the constitutional court of Niger rejected a bid by its current President Mamadou Tandja, to hold a referendum on extending his time in office. The court proclaimed this act illegal, just like the Honduran court told President Zelaya! The Niger President Mamadou Tandja reacted by dissolving parliament and imposing emergency rule! Has the African Union told him to respect the constitution and term limits? No!
So as much as I am against authoritarian and military rule, history has shown that imposing term limits has not stopped any President or head of state who has dictatorial desires or ambitions! They have all shown their true colours by rubbishing the constitution to maintain and consolidate their rule. So I ask myself, “What exactly does imposing term limits serve? What is its purpose? What are the objectives of term limits? What does it aim to solve?” If you believe that this will stop potential dictatorship or abuse of power, then you have no idea what has been happening in the real world.
I conclude by stating here that if a people so desire to keep re-electing the devil to lead them – then is that not their democratic right? In fact I will argue that term limit in itself is an assault on and not an aid to the democratic process. Term limits can only work within a wider framework that empowers the courts, the opposition, and other institutions of governance to maintain the balance of powers.
