It was revealed today that Sen. Marco Rubio, the failed 2016 Republican Presidential candidate from Florida, would be running for re-election to fill a seat which he had promised to vacate. Before his formal declaration today that he would after all not vacate the seat, as he had promised, there had been insinuations for a while now. But the final straw that seems to have convinced him not to vacate the seat (outside private pleas from the Republican establishment) is the recent mass murder at a gay nigh club in Orlando, Florida. It was suggested then that the event had alerted him to the fact that there is something serious to accomplish in the US Senate, which he apparently did not know about when he made the promise that he would vacate the seat.
Well, he is not vacating the seat, after all. So how does this justify African dictators? It reminds me of many African leaders who had sworn that they would vacate the presidency at a particular time only to renege when the time came for them to keep their promise. The list is long - from Ellene Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia to Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Paul Biya of Cameroon. When it came time for them to leave power, they engineered the process and re-installed themselves. It is a new trend now in Africa. Looking at the African situation in isolation may lead one to think that such political engineering is an anomaly, an African situation. Marco Rubio, however, reminds us that it is not. Politicians are the same everywhere. There is something very addictive with power - once it is tasted, it is very difficult to walk away from it. Perhaps someone should come up with a political detoxification program.
Well, he is not vacating the seat, after all. So how does this justify African dictators? It reminds me of many African leaders who had sworn that they would vacate the presidency at a particular time only to renege when the time came for them to keep their promise. The list is long - from Ellene Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia to Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Paul Biya of Cameroon. When it came time for them to leave power, they engineered the process and re-installed themselves. It is a new trend now in Africa. Looking at the African situation in isolation may lead one to think that such political engineering is an anomaly, an African situation. Marco Rubio, however, reminds us that it is not. Politicians are the same everywhere. There is something very addictive with power - once it is tasted, it is very difficult to walk away from it. Perhaps someone should come up with a political detoxification program.
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