FORMER President Jakaya Kikwete has urged Africans to avoid comparing regimes, insisting that each administration has its own ways of running things.
Mr Kikwete, who was fielding questions from journalists, on the sidelines of the Africa Drive for Democracy Elders’ Retreat here on Tuesday evening, said it was unfair for Africans to start comparing current leaders with their predecessors.
“You cannot force a leader to copy everything from his or her predecessor, we need to understand that everyone has their own qualities and characteristics,” he said.
Borrowing former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi’s phrase each era comes with its script, Mr Kikwete said it was sad to see some Africans piling pressure and pointing accusing fingers on their leaders for failing to replicate what previous holders of top offices have done.
According to the former president, every leader comes with their own agenda, views and set of principles once they assume the presidency, even when they are from the same political party.
“Let’s be fair to the presidency and stop the blame game,” he urged.
Mr Kikwete further noted that building the nation was a process that calls for concerted efforts.
In the same vein, the former President said democracy in Africa was going through a rough patch, if the number of coups and disputed elections were anything to go by.
“This is a worrying trend that has brought us here as elders to offer our wisdom to the current crop of leaders,” he added.
According to Mr Kikwete, Africa has witnessed eight coups in the last four years, describing it as a phenomenon.
For his part, Retired Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma, who is also the Chair of the Africa Drive for Democracy Elders’ Retreat insisted that democracy wasn’t a destiny but a journey.
According to Mr Koroma, African democracy has come a long way and there was no need for Africans to be told what to do.
“As Africans, we need to tell our own narratives,” said the former Sierra Leonean leader.
Echoing similar sentiments, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn challenged Africans to understand their history, noting that African democracies had taken different dimensions.
“We can take some basic principles from the West but there’s a need of contextualising them,” he asserted.
Officiated on Monday by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, the ‘Elders Retreat’ on the State of Democracy in Africa,’ provided the former leaders to engage with experts and scholars working on several issues of concern, including the state of democracy in the continent and ways to improve it.
It is a joint initiative by the Centre for Strategic Litigation (CSL), Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and MS Training and Centre for Development Cooperation.
