To claim democracy is un-African is to insult Africans as the only people incapable of evolving!

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The claim that staying in power until death is a fundamental part of African culture is a lie manufactured to justify modern dictatorship. 

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It is a cynical manipulation of history designed to convince the public that accountability and term limits are foreign impositions. 

When political leaders argue that they should remain in office indefinitely because traditional chiefs and kings ruled for life, they are not defending African heritage. 

They are protecting their own interests at the expense of the people. 

This argument fails because it ignores the universal history of human governance and the natural evolution of every society on this planet.

To suggest that democracy and term limits are un-African is to suggest that Africans are the only people incapable of outgrowing ancient systems of absolute power. 

History shows that every region of the world was once dominated by monarchs who claimed a divine or hereditary right to rule until they died. 

In 1215, the people of England forced King John to sign the Magna Carta because they were tired of arbitrary rule. 

In 1789, the people of France overthrew a monarchy that believed its power was absolute and eternal. 

These nations did not reject democracy because it contradicted their “traditional practices” of kingship. 

Even today, we never see the German Chancellor or French President pushing to remain in office forever on the pretext that it was their tradition. 

Instead, they recognized that as humans develop, their systems of government must also change to protect individual freedoms.

African leaders who currently mutilate their national constitutions to remove term limits often point to the pre-colonial era as their justification. 

However, even in many traditional African societies, leadership was not a blank check for tyranny. 

Many cultures had systems where councils of elders or traditional assemblies could remove a leader who failed the people. 

Power was often balanced by customary laws that prevented a single individual from becoming a law unto himself. 

By cherry-picking the “life tenure” aspect of traditional leadership while discarding the communal accountability that went with it, modern autocrats are practicing a hollow and dishonest version of tradition.

Since the early 1990s, many African nations adopted constitutions with clear term limits as a response to the era of one-party states and military juntas. 

These limits were not forced upon the continent; they were demanded by citizens who had suffered under decades of stagnation. 

For a leader to now claim that these limits are “foreign” is an insult to the thousands of Africans who protested, suffered, and died to secure those constitutional protections. 

When a leader in the 21st century changes the law to allow for a term-length extension, or 3rd or 4th term, they are not returning to African roots. 

They are reversing the progress made by their own citizens.

We see this pattern in Zimbabwe, where there are current moves to amend the constitution to extend the presidential term. 

This is the same stagnation found in Cameroon, where Paul Biya has been in power for over 41 years, or in Togo, where the Gnassingbé family has ruled for over 57 years.

​In Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, we recently witnessed the “constitutional coup” where leaders bypassed term limits to stay in power, leading to violence and instability.

These actions are never about tradition. 

They are about the one percent of the political elite who refuse to let go of the state resources they control. 

They use the “tradition” argument as a shield to deflect international criticism and to confuse the local population.

The logic that we must stay where we were three centuries ago is a recipe for failure. 

Human beings evolve in every other aspect of life. 

We do not use the medical practices of the 1700s, nor do we use the communication methods of that era. 

We have moved from being subjects of a crown to being citizens of a state. 

A subject obeys without question, but a citizen has the right to choose, to critique, and to change their leadership. 

Democracy is not a Western concept; it is a human aspiration. 

The desire for freedom and the right to participate in one’s own governance is universal. 

It belongs to an African in Redcliff just as much as it belongs to someone in Paris or London.

Constitutional term limits exist because one truth remains constant: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

When a leader knows they must leave office after 5 or 10 years, they are forced to consider their legacy and the fact that they will eventually have to live under the laws they created. 

When that limit is extended or removed, the leader becomes entitled. 

They begin to see the state as their personal property and the national treasury as their private bank account. 

This entitlement is what destroys nations, causes economic collapse, and triggers civil unrest.

The argument for lifelong rule is a declaration that Africa should be a museum of 18th-century politics while the rest of the world moves into the future. 

We must reject the idea that our “tradition” is a prison that prevents us from enjoying the same rights as the rest of humanity. 

True respect for African culture would involve building strong, accountable institutions that serve the people, not bending the law to serve the ego of one man. 

We are a people who have evolved, and our governance must reflect that evolution. 

Leaders must understand that they are servants of the people, and servants do not stay forever. 

They perform their duties for a set time and then they make way for new ideas and new energy. 

That is the only path to a just and prosperous society.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08