Comment & analysis
Challenges to the Rule of Law
Dieu-Donné Wedi Djamba
2008-06-03, Issue 377
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48543
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Dieu-Donné WEDI DJAMBA argues that the march toward democracy in Africa is not only under threat by dictators using dictatorial means to stay in power, but also by democratically elected leaders who use democratic processes to cement their hold over power.
Due to the legacy of authoritarian regimes, the Global South is facing a challenge in establishing the Rule of Law. But what raises concerns is that there is a trend toward disregarding pillars of the Rule of Law such as the Constitution or free and fair elections by those who currently rule their respective countries soon after being democratically elected.
Instead of being implemented, the Rule of Law moves one step forward and two steps back, holding back society through anti-democratic practices such as electoral fraud, the violation or the review of the Constitution by the democratic elected leaders.
1. ELECTORAL FRAUD
Change of governments and those in poweris one of the characteristics of democracy and this has to be done through free and fair elections.
With different authoritarian regimes, the Global South witnessed several so-called presidential elections with either a single candidate or many candidates without any chance of winning. An example is Chad where in the 2006 presidential elections; the president was re-elected with ninety nine percent. In Zaire(currently DRC) during Mobutu’s time or in Togo where as the world watched, a military government adopted the façade of democracy. There is the other kind of electoral fraud such as presidential elections in Zimbabwe.
But, if the mass frauds during these elections are organised by those who originally came into power by an anti -democratic way (coup, rebellion, revolution) and try to maintain themselves in power through so-called elections, the Global South faces a new challenge where the democratically elected leaders who once in power do not hesitate to use any illegal practice in order to win elections. The leading maxim seems to be “As I am now here it is forever.”
In this regard. The recent Kenyan crisis is a loud example of the attempt to hold back the Rule of Law by a democratic elected leader.
Indeed Kenya was deeply affected by a bloody crisis that left more than one thousand killed and thousands displaced, churches, shops and houses burned, all caused of an electoral coup by president Mwai Kibaki who came in power in 2002 after democratic elections that ended the long authoritarian regime started with Jomo Kenyatta in 1963 and continued by Daniel Arap Moi in 1978. These last elections took Kenya five years.
2. THE VIOLATION OR REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION
As it is well known, in the authoritarian regime, the leader designs the Constitution to meet his political needs.
Unfortunately this practice is becoming more and more prelevant amongst leaders who were democratically. Indeed, in the Global South, the Constitution, one of the pillars of the Rule of Law is coveted by those who have the duty to protect it.
In this regard, last February 2008 the Global South witnessed the violation of the Constitution by the Congolese president democratically elected Joseph Kabila and the prime minister Antoine Gizega who appointed magistrates in violation of the Congolese Constitution .
But the threat is also found in the review of the Constitution which aims to increase the power of the Head of the State or to allow him to remain in power through unlimited terms.
Furthermore, there is currently an attempt to review the Constitution by the dictator of Cameroon Paul Biya the one who has been in power since 1984. The review aims to allow him to be candidate in the next lections. Let us hope he will not succeed. Indeed, despite the fact Biya’s authoritarianism, the people of Cameroon are offering a real opposition to the review of the Constitution.
But the attempt to change the Constitution is not only made by the authoritarian leaders such as Paul Biya in Cameroon, but also by those democratically elected in their respective countries. The review of Constitution was attempted in Nigeria by the now former president Olusegun Obasanjo who tried through Parliament to review the provision limiting the number of terms a president may serve. He failed because the majority in Parliament voted against the amendment.
In addition, the same attempt was made by the current president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. But contrary to the Nigerian president the president of Venezuela tried to increase his power through a referendum, but still fortunately - he failed.
CONCLUSION
The establishment of the Rule of Law is one of major challenges in the Global South. Unfortunately, while people are focused on achieving this noble objective, others are working to hold back the process.
Therefore, there is a need for the Civil society as a whole to intesify its watch dog role vis-à-vis not only where the Rule of Law still has to be established but also where it has already been established. Indeed, today the Rule of Law is threatened in the DRC, Kenya, Venezuela and Nigeria. Tomorrow may be under threat in other countries.
As the Global South is struggling to end the culture of presidents for life, the slogan “as I am now here it is forever” has to be banned because it is taking the march toward a Rule of Law in the Global South two steps back for every step forward. The end result is gross human rights violations.
*Dieu-Donné WEDI DJAMBA is a lawyer(Advocate) at the Lubumbashi Bar Association a Researcher in Transitional Justice and an Assistant Lecturer in the College of Law in Lubumbashi in the DRC.
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