Ex-Liberian leader urges ‘laggards’ to step aside

AFRICAN leaders resisting democratic transformation should heed their citizens’ calls for change, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said on Saturday after receiving an award aimed at promoting good leadership on the continent.

Without naming specific countries or leaders, she referred to “laggard” countries in the region of one billion people who are “not meeting democratic transformation”.

“Their own citizens make the call for change and I don’t think they can continue to resist or deny that call for change,” said Johnson Sirleaf after accepting the award in Kigali.

Long-serving African leaders who have changed the law to stay in power include Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 73, and Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, in power for 35 years.

“The pressure builds [for democracy],” the former Liberian president said.

“The young people today are educated, skilful, demanding, and eventually we have to listen and I think that will happen to all those that are still lagging behind.”

“Democracy is now moving at a fast pace but it hasn’t got to everybody yet,” she said.

“And even in stated democracies there is not enough … democracy in the sense of full competition, full support for those that have been marginalised from the political scene.” But Africa continues to change.

In Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore was ousted by protests in 2014 after he tried to amend the constitution to extend his decadeslong rule, while Gambia’s ruler Yahya Jammeh fled after regional pressure ended his 22-year reign last year.

Johnson Sirleaf said she was optimistic about recent transfers of power on the continent.

Earlier this month, Ethiopia swore in a new prime minister after Hailemariam Desalegn quit to clear the way for reforms.

In Zimbabwe, 94-year-old Robert Mugabe stood down as president in November, after the army and former political allies turned against him, ending nearly four decades of rule marred by allegations of corruption, human rights abuses and economic negligence.

Zimbabwe holds elections in July.

Johnson Sirleaf defended her record in Liberia, saying her much-criticised efforts to fight corruption were hindered by a culture of graft developed for many years. —