EDITORIAL: Lessons Kenya Can Learn From Ghana

One measure of political maturity is whether a country's leaders have worked out a system of succession and are abiding by it. Up to the beginning of the nineties, no African country boasted of such a system. All but a handful had, at independence, opted for one-party rule, arguing - often correctly - that their level of technical and intellectual development could not withstand political frivolity and differing for differing's sake.

But those countries were to pay very dearly for it. It led to a situation where intellectual midgets holed themselves up in political stockades, perpetuated themselves in power, divorced themselves from the people, held their countries to ransom, stunted their economies and stultified their intellectual growth.

Yet there were a few exceptions. After many terms of failure, they saw the need to step down of their own volition so a younger person could try his luck. Of course, none bar one dared put it that way. The one - need we blurt it out? - was Tanzania's Julius Nyerere.

So towering was his intellect and such was his moral fibre that he admitted publicly that his attempt to re-establish Ujamaa (the African extended family system) was a signal failure. Therefore, said he, he was calling it a day so another person could give it a shot.

But several other African leaders have also seen this wisdom. They include Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, Ahmed Ahidjo of Cameroon and Quett Masire of Botswana.

This week, they will be joined by Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, who has decided not to seek re-election. One common denominator in all these countries is that they have enjoyed protracted peace. True, Ghana suffered a long period of turbulence in the sixties and seventies. But Rawlings' intervention has ensured it long-lasting stability.

Can it not be said that a certain measure of responsiveness to popular needs - including relatively greater attention to economic problems, social services and political issues, such as the decision to leave the scene as soon as you feel you are no longer making any impact - was responsible for this social stability?

The constitutional amendments many countries adopted at the advent of multi- partyism in the nineties have included clear succession timetables. As a rule, the head of state now can serve only two five-year terms. But the letter of a constitution is not the thing about it. Much more availing is the spirit of it.

Ghana's transition is an example many African leaders in their political twilight can benefit from. Are our heads of state and government using their constitutional mandates to serve the people impersonally and with dedication? Can Kenya's leaders answer that question affirmatively? If not, are they learning any lesson from Mr. Rawlings?