What qualifies for a successful presidency?

In a few weeks’ time, what was Tanganyika will celebrate 60 years of political independence, being the second country in the troubled neighbourhood of Africa’s Great Lakes to achieve that feat. As a young country celebrated her independence, few knew exactly what that meant. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere had to spell it out for the rest of the country that it meant hard work. The issues he outlined back then as being the major challenges confronting the ‘new’ country are still with us even as the country reaches legal retirement age in the public sector. Mwalimu ruled the longest in the country, became one of the titans of Africa’s liberation struggles of the twentieth century perhaps it was symbolic that his ancestors came calling as that century was coming to a close. Despite the many economic challenges he faced, a country being under one-party rule, his time in office is considered a success on its own or when compared to the rest of his contemporaries. He inspired many others to rise to power in the region through armed struggle.Mwalimu was in power for twenty four years that time has since been eclipsed by his political heirs who have been in charge of the country for thirty six years and counting. His successors in office have been accused of either ‘selling’ the country, handing it to neo-colonial forces through privatization and the increased influence of foreign powers in domestic affairs to them being ‘dictators’. They have all been seen as failing to live up to the standard set by the man who delivered political independence. None of his successors in office had a defined political philosophy that guided them and their convictions during their time in power. Their times are different from those of Mwalimu and his contemporaries; could that partly explain their perceived and actual failures?

What qualifies for a successful presidency?

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