Presidential removal: unzipping the constitutional provisions

Abstract

Impeachment proceedings are a rarity in the African context. This is not surprising given the history of executive dictatorships, all-powerful one-party states and a subservient media. With the dramatic change in the constitutional landscape of the 1990s, attention should be focused on the adequacy of the presidential removal provisions in African constitutions. This article therefore undertakes a critical review of the relevant provisions in anglophonic African states. It argues that they are unsatisfactory in several respects and calls for them to be thoroughly revised.