A fair conclusion agreed to by participants attending the inaugural African Leadership Forum. The forum was convened by former President Benjamin Mkapa of the United Republic of Tanzania and Uongozi Institute under the theme, “Meeting the challenges of Africa’s Transformation”.
If we consider some of the last articles we published, we see how that research ties in with that underscored at the forum that Africa does not lack visions or
ideas, but rather and instead, it lacks the practical leadership that will make a difference. Inexorably, fundamental leadership is lacking in most countries in Africa – it is easy to determine and it is evident in the various ratings for democracy, freedom and human rights, innovation scales and the ease of doing business in African countries. Further, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has also led with firm indicators of African government performance. The conclusive findings by the Progress Panel on fraudulent transactions by governments on the continent, leading to the exodus of not only unfinished resources but revenues as well – most into tax havens provide impetus for this entrenched perception and reality.
When married couples start having problems, the councillor normally indicates or during therapy takes them back to the root of what made them fall in love at first. In this case, let’s tack the root causes of the leadership deficits and gaps in Africa.
As Sir Winston Churchill once uttered, “The nation will find it very hard to look up to leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.” This seems to be because 1) current “leaders” are afraid of what is happening around them and have not appointed circumference of advisors to act as the backbone – not allowing anything through or out, 2) this is a political ploy to keep would-be leaders from focusing on results and strategic direction.
An issue that always comes to mind is this – why is it that on a continent that advocates democracy, can this democracy only be achieved by black people? Realistically, race and ethnicity intolerance is as rife on the African continent as anywhere else in the world. This is the first consideration. Leadership first has to move beyond these factors.
The next issue is that to deal with any situation, we need to know the reality of the situation and call the spade a spade and not a folk. Political rhetoric does not afford this opportunity and remains a trap that “leadership” on the continent falls into.
Despite that fact that many leaders are trying to keep their ears to the ground, most leadership in Africa is adaptive to reactive decision making processes as opposed to a proactive nature – specifically to the context of dire development constraints facing most of the population on the continent. Compounding this argument is the fact that leadership today is faced with the scope, speed and dynamic velocity of changes primarily and initially from the global economic duress and now to the geo-political shifts with war and economic positioning. The result: what we know as the growing leadership deficit not only in Africa but globally.
African leaders, as much as what the global economy is poised to grow, we have the tapering effect in place in the US and the potential meltdown of the Eurozone, with Germany, northern Europe and the Baltics opening up yet consolidating their currencies – this is impactful for Africa. The glance and focus then shift to the polarising effect of China and Russia to global geo-politics and international trade with the current play on economic superiority that include sanction against Russia by Europe and the USA.
Coming home, Africa needs to extend its marginal market in the sphere of robotics, innovation and science. In terms of the status quo, if Africa as a whole does not innovate, there rests a significant weight on the future generations as the continent lags further into consumerism of international products. To hasten this process, African pharmaceuticals should have been at the forefront of malaria research, dealing with Ebola, Ecoli in our water systems, be founding fathers of solar and alternative energy systems and technology for Africa.
The next point that needs to be made is contextualised in the premise of Africa Rising meme and the reality of prominent instability in the CAR and right across the MENA region. So far we have yet to the see the economic impact of lost revenue and trade from these regions. Comparatively, the MENA region is more like shadow economics. Taking it a step further, let’s consider the impact on the middle-class for the region;
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