If only our so-called leaders would emulate Mali's Amadou Toumani Toure, our continent would be much better off very soon. Check out the story below.
 
Baba
 
President Orders Review of His Country's Democracy 
The Nation (Nairobi)NEWS5 March 2008 Posted to the web 4 March 2008 By Hamadou Tidiane Sy
He may have several enemies often criticising his one "man show" and his governance style, but Malians no doubt unanimously admit the invaluable contribution of Amadou Toumani Touré, Mali's current president, to his country's transition, from a one-party system to a vibrant and strong multi-party democracy. 
 
ATT as his fellow country people usually call him, has just appointed a 15-member task force - including the chairman, former minister Daba Diawara and his two rapporteurs - to carry out the necessary reflections to "strengthen" Mali's democratic model, some sort of preventive cure, very rarely applied in African politics. 
 










The objective clearly assigned to the newly launched "Committee of independent experts", is to find ways to consolidate the Malian democratic model, to correct any dysfunctions in the system. 
 
At the end of February, the committee's mission officially kicked off after a ceremony presided by President Touré in the presence of all political parties and other national public and private actors and stakeholders. 
 
The decision comes at a time when Mali itself is facing any trouble, nor heading to any immediate election which could have been a source of suspicion or tension. 
 
Across Africa, the democratic achievements of the early and mid 90s - which have generalised the practice of multi-party politics and regular elections in several countries - are being seriously questioned by some and challenged by the facts. 
 
In Mali, "the institutional practices of the past 15 years have shown a certain number of flaws and shortcomings which constitute matters of concern for the political class as well as for the civil society organisations", President Touré said when addressing the newly formed 15-member committee, headed by Mr Diawara and comprising lawyers, university professors and civil society leaders. 
 
The Malian ruler also noted that despite "the many amendments to the electoral Act and the Political parties Charter', the electoral process and financing the political parties" remain problematic in his country, as has been shown by the different polls organised since 1992, when the country entered the democratic era under the leadership of ATT. 
 
During the past 15 years in Mali, there have been four presidential and parliamentary elections, all of which ended peacefully. Two of the presidential elections ended with the incumbent head of state handing over power to his democratically elected successor with elegance and magnanimity. 
 
Through all this process, President Touré has featured among the main actors. 
 
More than a decade and half ago, President Toure, then an army officer had put an end to the one party system after he toppled Moussa Traoré in 1991. He then led a military transition government, reformed the country's laws and brought in a new "democratic" constitution less than a year later and allowed the country to experience its first multi-party, free and fair elections. 
 
As the leader of the military transition, Mr Touré did not take part in the election in 1992, which was to guarantee some fairness to the process. 
As a consequence, he boosted his popularity among Malians and established his credentials in Africa and the world as an example of good leadership. 
This would later ensure his comeback and his election in 2002, when he decided to officially retire from the army and enter the presidential race as an independent candidate. He was re-elected in 2007, but was not happy with the low turnout at his re-election. 
 
The same absence of voters was also noted a few months later in parliamentary elections, when only a third of the registered voters went to the polls. 
 
"We need to launch an in-depth debate on those issues", Mr Ousmane Issoufi Maïga who was the then Prime Minister said over the July 2007 parliamentary elections. He expressed the wish that "all sections" of the country needed to be consulted to see what was wrong with Mali's democracy. For the former prime minister, "it was important for the youth, the women, the political parties, the civil society organisations, opinion leaders, for everybody to meet to address these issues". 
 
It now seems his voice has been heeded as the committee appointed by President Touré has been officially mandated to go and "meet everybody", in power or in opposition, in political parties or outside political parties, anybody deemed fit to bring their input before the submission of the committee's final report in August this year. 
 
And, the head of state has pledged to give the committee the necessary financial support. 
 
Among the major issues to be addressed are the recurrent issues of electoral fraud, low participation, funding of political parties, voter registration, low representation of political parties in polling stations and lack of voter education. 
 
In a nutshell, all those issues which are polluting the political atmosphere almost everywhere in Africa including in Mali, and some other parts of the world, because they constitute the basis for free, fair and transparent elections. 
 
Other issues the committee will have to work on are much less contentious but have to do with the rationalisation and effectiveness of the electoral system, such as the number of institutions involved in organising the voting process, the use of public funds for political parties and the status and role of strong and credible opposition. 
 
"At a time when the international community is hailing Mali's democracy, the president has diagnosed a deeply rooted illness. Apparently only the real national actors can perceive this illness", a Malian national, Al Hassane Maiga, wrote in a commentary published by local paper Le Challenger and reproduced online. 
 
In Mali, so far and despite all the "flaws and shortcoming" detected in the system by the nation and its president, no electoral process or political antagonism has generated the chaos and violence it has brought to other parts of the continent. 
 
President Touré himself could have said that this is his last term in office and start preparing for his retirement - why not? Or, he could concentrate on ways to modify the constitution so as to pave the way to a third term for himself - isn't President Paul Biya trying to do so in Cameroon? Didn't the Chadian president and many other African leaders do it in the past decade to the point of leading their countries into political deadlocks? 
 
Question itself 
 
For president Touré, what is at stake is clear. "I am convinced that the vitality of a democracy lies in its ability to constantly question itself", he told the taskforce ahead of their starting their mission which also includes work on questions beyond politics and elections, to include the relationships between the different institutions in the country, their respective powers and competence. 
 
This plunge into the governance system as a whole will probably give more clout and credibility to the committee's work and the country's stature as a democratic model in the world and in Africa. And as yet the "independence" of the committee members has not been publicly criticised by any major political party or organisation. 
 
President Touré has assured Mr Diawara of his support as he chairs the committee's work noting his understanding of the political institutions and his independence and moral integrity. 
 
In any case, some members of the public and the Malian media have warned committee members against any attempt at pleasing President Touré in their final recommendations by trying to touch "article 30 of the Constitution", the article which puts limitation to the number of terms in office. 
 
The atmosphere 
 
"Nobody ignores the atmosphere which characterised the 1992 constitutional changes. Have things evolved so substantially to the point of inspiring a modification of article 30 to grant ATT a third mandate?", a Malian newspaper, Le Républicain, asked in its February 29 issue. 
 
For the newspaper, the answer is clear "if there's a consensus about the need to modify (some parts of) the constitution (?) changing article 30 to allow a third term is out of the question. The military dictatorship has left indelible marks which make any extension of the presidential mandate an occasion for bad memories to emerge", the newspaper concluded. 
 
In fact, ATT does not seem to be interested in such a move in his favour, at least for now. He has already been a former head of state and knows the respect one can gain nationally and internationally by accepting to play by the rules of the game and leaving when it's time to leave. 
 
Moreover he now knows, through his own personal experience, that there's a life after the presidency and that this life can be as active, exciting, challenging and rewarding (at times even more) than the life in the presidential palace. For now he has another four years to go before coming to this choice which for many African rulers often appears as a dilemma. 
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