The 74 year old Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni once said leaders who “overstayed” in office were the root of Africa’s problems. Many applauded his statement because it rang true.

However, Museveni said this while running for a fifth term in 2016. With his hypocrisy exposed the Ugandan leader retorted that it was not the right time for him to leave as he still had work to do.

Indeed, African leaders are somehow obsessed with power and seem not to have it in them to groom successors. They simply can not pass on the baton.

Uganda’s ruling party has gone on to endorse President Yoweri Museveni as its candidate for the 2021 elections.

This means the 74-year-old leader, who came to power in 1986, will be running for a sixth term.

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) agreed, in a meeting chaired by Mr Museveni on Wednesday, that he should “continue leading the movement and the state in 2021 and beyond to eliminate bottlenecks to transformation”.

His candidacy for Uganda’s next election comes after he signed a 2017 bill that scrapped the presidential age limit of 75.

Uganda’s Supreme Court began hearing a petition last month to challenge this decision.
The Question is what can Museveni do in his sixth term (should he be re-elected), and what failed him on delivering in his last 5 terms in office?

Like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who was toppled in November 2017 by his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa, Museveni has been viewed as a demi-god of sorts in Uganda and his political party The National Resistance Movement (NRM) seems to think Uganda can not survive without him.

Will Museveni go the way of Mugabe? What is it with African leaders?

Your thoughts and views on this subject are welcome in the comments section below.