Two 5 year terms are enough for any president serving a nation, said Lawyer Assan Martin on Wednesday.
He attributed the recent uprising in Middle Eastern countries to leaders overstaying in power.
“Over staying in power and life presidency are a threat to healthy democracy,” the human rights lawyer said.
He observed that ten years is sufficient for any leader to serve his or her people.
Martin added that the thirty year rule of former PPP regime should serve as an eye opener to Gambians, saying that was an affront to the country’s democracy.
Now is the time for Africa’s democracy to mature and democracy is about respecting values and ideals such as rule of law, human rights and freedom of expression, he emphasized.
The out-spoken human rights barrister remarked that nation building is a continuous process that can never be accomplished by any individual leader.
As such he said whenever a leader serves for ten years; he or she should relinquish power to enable others to do what they too can contribute to nation building.
According to him, over-staying in power breeds endemic corruption and rulers getting out of touch with reality of their people.
He described Ghadaffi’s comments that the protestors are drug addicts and drunkards as symptomatic of a leader out of touch with reality
He also deplored the Libyan leader’s description of his people as cockroaches and rats as absurd
“It is inconceivable that this leader is insulting the people whom he claims to represent,” he pointed out.
Lawyer Martin said countries in Sub Saharan Africa should learn lessons from the events in Middle East.
“Among other issues, the protestors in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya were calling for a political reform that ensures that no single leader stays in power for more than one decade,” he cited,
He added, “The young people in those countries aspire for greater freedoms and employment.
In his view, job opportunities for young people and greater freedoms are some of the issues that the regime in this country needs to improve.
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