Presidential Incumbency and the Political Process in East Africa

Incumbency continues to attract debate in both developed and developing countries especially considering its impact on politics and the political process. In Africa were constitutions aren't fully respected, sitting presidents use the power of incumbency to amend constitutions like in Uganda 2005, rig elections, Kenya 2007 and entrench themselves in power as it is in Rwanda. Incumbency in this case affects the political process and undermines efforts to have level playing field politics. This book attempts to employ a critical analysis to assess the impact of presidential incumbency on the political process and democratization in East Africa. East Africa being a relatively big region, the book puts emphasis on Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. The advantages incumbents enjoy ahead of their counterparts, non-incumbents are enormous and these range from misusing national resources during elections, manipulating the electoral agenda, enjoying support of the armed forces/security machinery among others. There are implications of failure by incumbents to relinquish power and Incumbency if unchecked can pose a danger to the political process and democratization in the long-run.