As Sierra Leone’s president seeks to amend the constitution
and extend his presidency, it is time for Africa to pause and reflect
The president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, wants to
amend the constitution and remove term limits on the presidency. Koroma is not
the first and will not be the last president of an African country to attempt
this. Many others have done it with success while a few have failed. Yet each
time a country attempts to remove term limits, we have a standard explanation:
the leader is greedy for power. Since the 1990s, we have regurgitated this
explanation, reducing a social issue to the character of an individual.
