Regional rights bodies push for uniform presidential term limits

But Open Society, an initiative supporting good governance and respect for human rights in the region warned that introducing term limits through a Bill of Rights as a regional standard may not be practical.

A programme officer, Mugambi Kiai said: “The problem with specifying a term limit within a Bill of Rights is that if the operative political system in certain partner states is parliamentary or hybrid, the necessity for such a provision is entirely removed.” He added: “I would suggest that the Bill of Rights is not the place to find a provision limiting term limits of presidents within a presidential system; this must be provided for where the governmental power architecture is being defined — and this is not the Bill of Rights which is really the centre of the social contract between citizens and the state.”