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African leaders have been advised to build comprehensive national consensus on controversial issues before proceeding to seek amendments to sensitive clauses in their national constitutions, the United Nations Special Representative for West Africa, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, has said. Dr Chambas told the Daily Graphic in Cape Coast last Saturday, that the situation in Burkina Faso could have been avoided if that country�s leaders had sought the views of the populace on such a serious constitutional issue of the tenure of the president. �In a situation where leaders stay in power for unduly long periods, its fall-outs are what we are witnessing in Burkina Faso and 27 years of the rein of Blaise Compaore was a very long time and it was not a wise thing for him to try to extend it ,� he said. Dr Chambas said it was important for African leaders to respect the term limitation, serve their term of office and move on with their lives. �In that way, we can avoid this kind of turmoil we see in neighbouring Burkina Faso,� he added. Lessons The social uprising, he said, could have been avoided, particularly when it was clear that the amendment to Article 37 to extend the mandate of former President Compaore was not popular. He said with such signals, the leaders should not have pursued the amendment drive, but rather they aggressively pursued that agenda until it developed into the unfortunate situation which had plunged the country into a political upheaval. He said judging from what had happened in Burkina Faso, there were lessons for all politicians in Africa to learn. Dr Chambas said it was important to note that ensuring broad national concensus on debatable issues was the least way of respecting the existing national constitutions. Rioters must be law-abiding He said one of the sad aspects of the situation in Burkina Faso was that the rioters went beyond the limit. �When such issues come up and result in demonstrations, the people have to be careful not to engage in excesses. �Burning down a national assembly of Burkina Faso is obviously costly and Burkina Faso with limited resources will have to reconstruct and refurbish the entire national assembly,� he said. Dr Chambas advised African youth who wished to engage in legitimate protests against decisions perceived to be wrong by their leaders to be moderate in doing so. �But let us be mindful that ultimately it will be the taxpayer who will bear the cost of any excesses or any violence by a section of the people,� he admonished. Zero tolerance for military takeovers The United Nations Special Representative said it was important for the leadership in Burkina Faso to note that military takeovers were still frowned upon by both ECOWAS and the African Union. �The lesson for other African leaders is that term limitation is a prudent thing to do and that they should build it into their constitutions and respect it. �When you get to the end of your mandate, you don�t have to use unpopular measures to hang on to power. In this way we can grow our democracies. Hanging on to power for a long time could result in frustrations and could spill over just as it happened in Burkina Faso,� he said.