When all Africa politicians die, leadership will rise

#Leadership #Politicians #Africa #Leadershipchallenge #Ghana #Nigeria 

When all the politicians die, leadership will rise, and Africa will shine. What Africa Needs Is More Leaders, Not More Politicians.

In the current political climate in Africa, it’s all about the numbers. The continent has more than 1 billion people and rising expectations for change.

In order to meet those expectations, it is increasingly essential that Africans have leaders who are capable of charting a new course. However, we do not have enough leaders on the continent right now.

Whether you are talking about the number of available leaders or their competence, they are sorely lacking.

This is why what Africa needs is more leaders, not more politicians – even if both categories tend to be lumped together by many at this point in time.

Africans must chase the feet of leadership with the heat of accountability and require ethical actions, decisions, and behaviours that make use of the resources of the people for their good and not that of the greedy political actors.

African politicians are the exact opposite of what the world wants to see in Africa. Leadership is advancing and becoming the positive game-changing catalyst globally, however, Africa remains in bondage as politicians who rule with their heads instead of their brains continue to receive accolades for substandard decisions, choices, and actions.

Black is power but in our part of the world, black is poverty, short-term thinking, political gimmicks, and lies.

When all the politicians die, leadership will rise, and Africa will shine. While Africa needs leaders, it can only boast of political actors that talk big and show little.

Indeed, I see no leadership in Africa because true political leaders do not praise themselves for providing bird-view solutions. African politicians are constantly looking at the challenges that confront them from the bird view perspective instead of providing a front elevation view response to the African problems. We need political actors who attack the root cause of Africa’s problems but these are lacking hence we cannot call such people leaders.

Africa has been challenged not by the lack of resources but by the lack of leadership. This is the only problem we have.

African countries can boast of all the resources nature has to offer, but they have poverty chasing citizens everywhere. True leaders don’t blow their own horns, their works speak for them. Politicians are very wasteful, enemies of the state and enemies of the same mother. They start projects they never complete, and other politicians take over and never turn an eye to the project yet we as citizens do not see how these figures are fooling us all over the place.

Every government project is an avenue for stealing from the people. The politician says the country is broke, but he has no pay cut. The politician says the poor must tighten their belt yet theirs are loose. They say we have no financial resources yet they waste the scarce resources on irrelevant projects and programmes and you wonder if there are really there to solve the problems of the people.

When all the politicians die, leadership will rise, and Africa will shine. The misuse of our resources leaves much to be desired. Why should politicians who call themselves leaders, cut sods for every project and organize the launch of such projects? Count the cost of gathering people for such an event and man-hours wasted on such programmes when in the same community there is a school, a hospital, and a road that needs less help to improve the lives of the people. The financial commitments towards a simple sword cutting can be invested in something profitable for the people.

It looks as though politicians in Africa have their brains turned upside down, as they continue to make decisions that do not bring about the needed improvement in the lives of the people.

As enemies of the people, they buy their way into authority. Every African politician buys the conscience of the people using money and gifts which are either stolen money or legitimately earned. These are killer baits that prevent the people from making objective choices, the wrong people get to the top and turn the citizens into boot leakers.

When all the politicians die, leadership will rise, and Africa will shine. The roads are broken and never fixed until it kills an innocent citizen then the politician surfaces on the scene to sympathize, donate peanuts, make big promises, and enter his or her car never to return.

The politician needs to be taken off the seat of leadership. Many have little or no leadership in them but greed, thievery agenda, and the next election.

If our nations rise from the graves yet to be covered by our political actors, then Africa must rise. Africans are not angry enough to demand leaders to man our governments and provide lasting solutions to our problems. Africa does not have new problems since all we face today have been around even before we were born yet politicians have come and gone.

This means as a continent, our first and final enemies are those holding political power.

We have many political appointees and elected ones who are not good enough to be called leaders. An accountant, is trained to do his job, a teacher is trained to do his job, a doctor is trained to do his job, who trains the politician and gives them the needed leadership empowerment, strategic planning, change management, project execution among others?

Leadership is key but we cannot boast about that being exhibited by political actors.

How many political appointees have any form of leadership training?
How many have ever studied leadership?
How many of our leaders have and practice leadership qualities
How many of our political actors are not corrupt or do not cover corrupt acts?
How many politicians are truly in to serve?

Leadership is servant-ship, do we have such persons in Africa? When all the politicians die, leadership will rise, and Africa will shine.

What Does it Mean to Be a Leader?

Leaders must have the ability to inspire and motivate. They must have the capacity to build coalitions, lead a team, and set clear goals.

They must be able to and willing to adapt to change. And they must have the vision to foresee ways that their people can improve and prosper.

In order to be a leader, there is a certain level of competency that is essential.

Some of these competencies are essential for leaders in any field.

They include empathy, the ability to identify a challenge, the ability to identify a solution, and the ability to communicate the solution effectively to all stakeholders.

Other competencies are specific to leadership and include having the ability to set and achieve goals, the ability to manage people well, and the ability to deal with failure.

The Need for More Competent Leaders

Leaders, regardless of their field, must also be competent.

A great leader is not someone who simply has the ability to lead. A great leader is someone who is able to lead through their competence.

And competence is something that is developed over time.

If you start out as a leader without the necessary competencies, you will fail.

This is an unfortunate and unfortunate reality in many parts of Africa where the number of leaders and their competence often do not meet up.

Not Enough Leaders Available

When all the politicians die, leadership will rise

Africa needs more leaders, but we also need to be realistic about the people who are available to lead.

This is because many people who are capable of leading are busy managing businesses, managing communities, managing families, or simply managing their own lives.

This can often be distracting from the core leadership competencies that are required for better outcomes for the people affected by them.

And then there is the issue of the quality of many of the leaders that we do have. They often have the right amount of competency, but not the right kind.

Problem with Too Many Politicians

Many of the problems with too many politicians in Africa are perhaps the same issues that plague the continent’s leaders in general, including a lack of competent leaders and a lack of quality in the existing pool.

One of the problems with too many politicians is that they are often not around to solve the many problems that the continent faces.

Another problem with too many politicians is that they often simply do not want to leave the stage and let someone else take the lead.

This can often be because they have vested interests in the current system and therefore cannot simply walk away.

Conclusion: Africa Needs More Competent, Not More, Leaders

In order for Africa to realize its full potential, it is essential that there are more leaders who have the competency and ability to lead their people.

But we need to start by sorting out the ones we have now. In order for this to happen, it is important that we have a new generation of leaders who have had sufficient exposure to a quality education system.

It is important that we have a new generation of leaders who have been trained to be the next generation of leaders.

It is important that we have a new generation of leaders who understand the goals and aspirations of their people.

And it is important that we have a new generation of leaders who are willing to take the lead, even if they are lacking in certain areas if it means that they will have the next generation of people ready to follow.

Leaders are always needed, but we must choose the right kind.

 

Source: Wisdom Hammond | Leadership expert | wisdomkehammond@gmail.com