Africans see one-man rule as the greatest threat to democracy on the continent, an Afrobarometer survey released on Wednesday has shown.
”Among the three forms of autocratic rule — one-man rule, military rule and one-party rule — one-man rule is the most rejected regime with its disapproval ratings rising significantly from 68% in 1999 to 78% in 2005,” the report on the findings states.
In the past eight years, there have been four controversial attempts to amend Constitutions in favour of incumbent elected presidents, in Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and Nigeria.
Only Namibian president Sam Nujoma succeeded in his bid.
”Part of the reason may have something to do with public opinion. Africans appear to have grown intolerant of perpetual incumbency.”
The findings come from a series of three surveys conducted in 12 African countries between 1999 and 2006. A total of 56 000 people in West, East and Southern Africa were interviewed.
In 2002, in the second round survey of 16 countries, eight in 10 Africans interviewed agreed that ”the president must obey the law, including the Constitution, for example, by serving no more than two terms in office”.
In Zambia, Malawi and Nigeria, Afrobarometer surveys registered extremely high rejections of autocracy in the periods before and during efforts to amend national Constitutions and extend presidential terms of office. More than 90% of citizens in these countries rejected any form of autocracy.
The Afrobarometer is a survey research project conducted by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Ghana’s Centre for Democratic Development and Michigan State University in the United States. — Sapa