AHEAD of June 6 this year when the seventh National Assembly is expected to expire, jostle for the posts of Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives has begun.

LEADERSHIP is often defined by key achievements or failures. Abraham Lincoln’s two terms in office, spanning eight years, were characterised by the emancipation proclamation and the freedom of millions of black slaves. The policies of glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika (“restructuring”) and the ensuing dissolution of the Soviet Union describe the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev’s six years in office, just as the courageous prosecution of Britain’s efforts in the Second World War defined the leadership of Winston Churchill.