Joe Biden, the president of the United States of America (USA), now 81 years old, is suspected not to be mentally and physically fit for second term at the helm of US presidency. So too with Donald Trump, who is now 77, four years shy of Biden, his potential ballot arch rival.
Recent NBC News polls shows that 76% of potential voters are concerned about Biden’s age, compared with 48% who harbour concerns about Trump’s age to occupy the high office of US presidency.
On the domestic scene, the erstwhile president, Peter Mutharika, who is nursing ambitions of bouncing back to power, is currently said to be 83, two years above Biden. It’s on record that Mutharika used to be literally aided to the podium at times in the campaign towards the last elections. Another expose of his physical malaise occurred when he tried to squat in the course of planting a tree during the launch of one of the tree planting seasons within his reign.
The age concerns raised by the people of America isn’t different from those domestically raised by some Malawians. The office of the president is so demanding that the occupant must be always be physically and mentally fit to withstand the pressure associated with it. We don’t take a risk by putting leaders on such big positions of authority as mere figureheads but rather those that can deliver commensurate with the mandate of such an office.
Normally when one reaches 80, their mental and physical statuses get so compromised for them to be economically productive as humans. Their dwindling mental status is normally likened to those of toddlers. It is unfortunate that such leaders fail to accept to pave way for youthful blood.
Those advocating for presidential age limit in Malawi are fighting a sensible cause.