The President of United States, Barack Obama has on Tuesday
addressed African leaders at the African Union Headquarters in Ethiopia.
President
Obama, who is the first American President to speak at the AU, spoke against
African leaders who sought to be life Presidents.
He
said, “I
am in my second term. It’s been an extraordinary privilege for me to serve as
President of the United States. I love my work but under our constitution I
cannot run again. I actually think I am a pretty good president. I think if I
ran I could win. But I can’t. So there is a lot that I will like to do to keep
America moving but the law is the law and no one person is above the law. Not
even the president.
”And
I will be honest with you. I am looking forward to life after being president.
I wouldn’t have such a big security detail all the time. It means I can go take
a walk. I can spend time with my family. I can find other ways to serve. I can
visit Africa more often.
”The
funny thing is I don’t understand why people want to stay so long especially
when they have got a lot of money. When a leader tries to change the rules in
the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife
as we have seen in Burundi. Sometimes you hear a leader say well I am the only
person who can hold this nation together. If that’s true, then that leader has
failed to build their nation. You look at Nelson Mandela. Madiba like George
Washington forged a lasting legacy not only because of what they did in office
but because they were willing to leave office, transfer power peacefully.
”Just
as the African Union have condemned coups and illegitimate transfers of power,
the AU and other strong voices can also help the people of Africa ensure their
leaders abide by term limits under their constitution. Nobody should be
president for life,” he
concluded.
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