PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s choice of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa to announce he intended to spend only one term, if elected, hopefully sent a message to Africa’s lengthening list of sit-tight rulers, who put their countries under perpetual tension.

The riots sweeping through Northern Africa have as much to do with bad leaders as with long regimes that muffled democracy and converted governance to personal estates family members inherit on their demise.

In Togo , Faure Eyadema took over in 2005 on the death of his father Gnassingbe, ruled Togo for 38 years. At 71, Omar Bongo had ruled Gabon for 42 years, only death, in 2009, denied him a longer tenure. His successor and son, Ali is having a tough time holding down the opposition.

Africa suffers the consequences of sit-tight rulers who cripple the opposition and run their countries as they wish. Suggestions that they leave office are considered treason. If elections are held, they must return them to office. In most cases, elections are never contemplated.

Unfortunately, these dictators are the envy of their colleagues, whose dream is undemocratic control of their countries. The dangers their greed poses for stability of the continent have been seen in Tunisia and the riots to get President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 82, out of office after almost 30 years. There are strong indications that he wants to leave on his own terms, including his son Gamal, succeeding him.

The short list that follows gives their country, name, age and the duration of their deadly grip — Libya, Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al_Gaddafi (68), 41 years; Angola, Eduardo Dos Santos (69), Equatorial Guinea, Theodoro Mbasogo (69), and Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe (86), 32 years; Cameroon, Paul Biya (78), 29 years; Uganda, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (67) 24 years. Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires, Cape Verde (77) became President 20 years ago, but had been Prime Minister for 16 years.

Others are Sudan ’s Omar al-Bashir (67) 22 years, Amadou Toumani Toure (63) of Mali and Idriss Deby Itno (59) of the Republic of Chad , 21 years. The youngest members of the clique are Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea (65) at 18 years , Yahya Jammeh(46) of The Gambia 17 years and Meles Zenawi (55) of Ethiopia 10 years.

Dictators like Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 73, trouble democracy in Africa. He was elected in 1999, but has abolished constitutional provisions that limited his tenure. With all the turmoil around him and within Algeria, he is bent on continuing in office.

Africa has only a few countries where elections are held when they are due — Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. This, however, means little in terms of governments meeting expectations of their people.

What we get is minimal democracy, where promises of minimal tenure, like the one from Jonathan, keep restive politicians at bay, who make their own calculations and reckon four years are short enough, they can wait.
Only the people wait forever for a government that will put them in the calculations.