THE STING IN THE TAIL OF POWER

By Tikum Mbah Azonga

 

When Barrister Junior Eta Besong decided to join other candidates in the race for his own succession at the recent Cameroon Bar Association presidential elections, he was choosing one of several options. This is because he could easily have opted not to run again and thereby given someone else a chance.

 

As it turned out, Eta Besong used his democratic right to bid for the post, thus laying his popularity status on the line for others to judge him. In the end he and the other candidates lost to Barrister Francis Sama Asanga. With hindsight therefore, observers can today affirm that Barrister Junior Eta Besong would have been clearly better off if he had not stood as a candidate for a new term. In such a case, he would have finished his term honourably and departed with his head high. Now that he fought and lost, one can say that he was vomited by his own people, or the very people on whom he counted to hand him another term in office, perhaps on a platter of gold, “auctioned” him. History has now noted in its annals that Eta Besong was given a vote of no confidence. As a result, one can conclude that instead of jumping, Barrister Junior Eta Besong was pushed.

 

Nonetheless, although we are making this look like an Eta Besong affair, strictly speaking, it is not. A close look at the stakes reveals that the trounced former Batonnier, simply did what many elected officials do: they hardly ever leave voluntarily until the full time whistle is blown or they are pushed out. Examples of the phenomenon abound, within Cameroon and outside of Cameroon. In fact, even in the so-called developed countries, leaders make it a point to keep standing for re-election until they have exhausted all possible chances of standing again.

 

Recently, the outgone Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade while still in office dug in his heels for another mandate until he was flushed out by his own former minister, Macky Sall. In Cote d`Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo sat it out until the pro-Ouattara military pushed him out in favour of Ouattara. Today, Gbagbo who ignored both pleas and ultimatums to quit power honourably, languishes in jail with charges of war crimes looming ominously over his head. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy sought to renew his contract with the French people until the electorate overwhelmingly showed him the red card.

 

In Britain, Margaret Thatcher continued to stand and win as General Election Candidate for the Conservative Party, and even went as far as saying she would “go on and on and on” when journalists quizzed her on how much longer she would keep renewing the premiership. In the end, the so-called “Iron Lady” was booted out, not so much by an election in which opponents and detractors disapproved of her; but by members of her own party, beginning with the Deputy Prime Minister, Geoffrey Howe. In the United States of America, President George Walker Bush left power only after serving his two maximum terms as allowed by the country`s constitution. His father George Bush senior who had been President before him, left power only because he lost his own second and final mandate.

 

That is not all. Leaders who serve terms which are not limited but who could nevertheless have stepped down in favour of someone else if they wanted to, generally do not do so. They hang on to power despite age and illness. Examples include the Catholic Pope and the Queen of Britain, to name a few. In fact, very few leaders have dared to say, “Enough is enough” and voluntarily stood down like South African President Nelson Mandela did. But then again, as the current President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma once said, “You can`t have a thousand Mandelas”.

 

We can now understand why Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has not quit his job. We can understand why Cameroon Social Democratic Front (SDF) National Chairman John Fru Ndi has not given up his portfolio to someone else, despite being in the saddle for over twenty years. We can equally understand why Cameroon`s President Paul Biya rejected calls from some quarters and stood for another seven year term last year.

 

Everything said and done it is not enough to wish that a ruler leaves power. It is easier said than done. For that to happen, the ruler must be personally convinced about the move. Come to think of it, handing over power implies huge losses such as financial comfort and social standing, fringe benefits and many more. That is why the decision to go is always a painful one, if at all it is taken. One argument commonly used as a reason to cling to power is that it is ones constitutional right to choose to go or not to go, as long as the constitution as it is, allows them to run for the post. But then again, the rules of the game of politics are often too complex to be comprehended, let alone applied.

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Footnote

This paper was first broadcast on Foundation Radio (The Voice of the Voiceless), FM 100 in Ngomgham-Mankon, North West Region of Cameroon on the 24^th of August 2012. The Radio is one of the subsidiaries of The Fomunyoh Foundation (TFF) which is headquartered in the United States of America.