Leadership Incompetence: The Cause of Africa s Woes

The strength of every society depends largely on its leadership. Throughout history successful societies have been those whose leaders were able to rise to the occasion to calm storms during crises and advance the course of prosperity during peace time. During economic hardships, poverty and wars it is the leaders who make tough economic and military decisions to steer the nation out of those troubles. However, leadership incompetence is a key factor in entrenching poverty in almost all African societies.

The leadership in Africa today could be likened to a bad chef who has all the ingredients needed to prepare a delicious soup but fail to do so. For instance Africa is home to half of the world s untapped natural resources. The continent receives the highest amount of sunshine comparable to any landmass in the world which when taped could supply cheap and constant supply of electricity to the whole continent and beyond. It is estimated that the solar energy potential of the Sahara Desert alone could power the whole of Europe. This is what the Finnish president said on a visit to Nigeria in March 2009, Nigerian people have so much sun and wind, why don t they use it for the generation of light for cooking and every other thing ? She queried, and added that we do it in Finland for our renewable energy . Source: www.dailytrust.com, 12 March, 2009.

The continent is home to a lot of valuable minerals such as gold, diamond, coltan, copper, bauxite, Uranium. There are huge diamond and gold deposits in Botswana, Namibia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and South Africa. There are huge copper deposits in Zambia and Guinea. It is estimated that mineral deposits in DR Congo alone could fetch the country 23 trillion dollars.

There are huge oil and gas deposits in Angola, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Cameroon and Algeria. Timber is abundant in Gabon, DRC, Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. There are rich soils in Nigeria, DRC, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Malawi, and South Africa.

The continent is home to some of the world s biggest and longest rivers and lakes. There are rivers like the Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Senegal, Gambia, Benue, Limpopo, Volta, Kasai, Ubangi, Bomu and Orange. There are lakes like Victoria, Albert, Kivu, Tanganyika, Malawi, Kyoga, Chad, Edward, Nyasa and Turkana. The value of these rivers and lakes to agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, commerce, power generation and household cannot be overemphasised.

The continent is also home to some of the beautiful natural wonders of the world. There are animals like lion, zebra, leopard, Victoria waterfalls, the pyramid in Egypt and a host of others a source of tourism.

Besides there are architects, engineers of all kinds, medical doctors, planners, bankers, technicians, scientists, industrialists and investors with the qualifications, expertise and rich experience to help develop these resources. On top of all these the technology needed to convert these natural resources into finished goods exist every where in the world and can be bought or borrowed. The rich natural wealth of the continent is the main reason why it is seen as a strategic importance to the survival of the whole world.

African people have so much natural resources, so why don t they use it to benefit themselves and the world? The answer is the incompetence and ineffective leadership found everywhere in the continent. There is a leadership in Africa that is out of touch with the ordinary African. A leadership that has run out of ideas and solutions to the economic and social problems facing the people. A leadership that seeks only its own. A leadership which is more concerned about its existence than the existence of the people. Just yesterday 31-03-2009 about 500 Africans got drowned off the coast of Libya trying to flee poverty, diseases, wars and untold economic hardship (May their souls rest in perfect peace). There is a leadership in Africa which is more concerned about how to get rich than how to lift her people from poverty. A leadership more interested in votes than the responsibilities that go with the votes. A leadership that exist based on tribal alliances and loyalty of the security forces rather than its own economic and social record. A leadership that accepts no opposing views and remain accountable to itself. A leadership that beliefs that its alone has wisdom, knowledge and answers to all the problems facing the people. A leadership which beliefs that its alone has a mandate from God to govern. A leadership that worships and rewards corruption instead of fighting it. A leadership which is cut off from reality, from outside the rest of the world and have no idea how to react. It is this kind of incompetence that has maintained Africa s ranking as the number one poor continent in the world.

There is a proverb which says that A bad worker always quarrel with his tools which best describes African leaders and their incompetence. The incompetence of African leaders is seen in Gabon where Omar Bongo has been in power for 42 years; has received billions of dollars from oil and yet his 1.4 million people live in poverty. In Libya, Gaddafi has been in power for 39 years, has received several billions of dollars and his people are poor. Denis Sassou Nguesso and Eduardo dos Santos each has ruled for 30 years yet their people are poor. Obiang Nguema has 28 years to his credit yet the 600,000 people in his country live in abject poverty despite receiving billions of dollars in oil revenue.

If Africa could move from poverty to economic recovery and finally into economic prosperity then there is the need for the old guards to leave the political scene and allow the Obamas to come in. There is the need for a new leadership in the continent capable of delivering the people out of poverty, diseases, wars, famine, economic meltdown, political paralysis and insecurity. Please see the article entitled Corruption in Africa: A cancer that won t go away and read more.

There cannot be any progress with these kinds of leaders who are more concerned about their positions than their responsibilities. Africa is the only continent which was left out and marginalised during the world economic boom; it is also the one to be hardly hit by the current economic turmoil. Africa is always in great danger of economic collapse largely because of the corrupt and incompetence leaders who rule the people with impunity.

Africa needs to chart a different route if it is to take its place as a member of the global community. We need leaders who are committed to building the social and economic infrastructures of their countries such as schools, hospitals, roads, harbours, airports, rail lines, telecommunication, silos and irrigation facilities, as Khama Ian Khama of Botswana and his predecessors have done making the people of Botswana to enjoy one of the highest standard of living in Africa. We need leaders who have foresight and initiative to convert the huge natural resources in the continent into finished goods to benefit the people not the kinds of Joseph Kabila whose people wallow in abject poverty while foreign countries loot his country s resources.

We need leaders who are dedicated to uniting Africans through economic and cultural cooperation and education exchange and not those who seek to divide Africans through wars as was witnessed in DR Congo where Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Angolan armies have crossed into DRC several times and looted its natural resources including timber, gold, diamond, coltan and other valuable minerals. We need leaders who cooperate with one another to fight poverty, hunger, diseases and instabilities which are widespread throughout Africa.

We need leaders who will not use the scarce resources of their poor countries to procure military machines for their own protection; wage war against its neighbours and oppress its own people while there are schools, hospitals, roads, to be built and mouths to feed as Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Robert Mugabe and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria are doing while many Ethiopians and Zimbabweans face famine, poverty and cholera epidemic.

We need leaders who will not destroy the educational system of their countries and then send their children abroad to study as Jerry Rawlings of Ghana did when he and his ministers sent their children to Europe and America to study after destroying one of the best educational systems in the world.

We need transformative leaders who will not work to continue the status quo, but work to change it to benefit the poor people. We therefore need leaders who will not put the interest of their former colonial masters ahead of their own people and their own Organisations such as the Africa Union, SADC and ECOWAS. We must elect leaders who will not put the interest of big corporations ahead of their own people and the environment as is currently seen in Nigeria where Shell has totally destroyed the Niger Delta region and polluted rivers, wells, streams, soil and the environment thereby rendering millions of farmers and fishermen jobless.

We need strong and dedicated leaders who adhere to the tenets of democracy and all its freedoms. Leaders who relinquish power freely like Nelson Mandela, Rawlings, John Kuffour not the likes of Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who refused to leave office and resulted to violence after the people have rejected them in elections. Not the kind of corrupt, kleptocratic and dictatorial leadership that we have in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Congo, Angola, Libya, Sudan and Chad.

We must have leaders who will not refuse to finance the health infrastructure needs of their countries and then travel overseas for medical treatment when they are sick. After presiding over a rot economy and a sickening health system for 42 years, Omar Bongo had no choice but to send his late wife Edith to France and Morocco for medical treatment. Gnassingbe Eyadema after ruling Togo for more than 3 decades could not built the country s health infrastructure and died when he was been rushed to Europe for medical treatment. This was after he had travelled to Switzerland for what the authorities said was a medical check up.

At this hour of world economic competition and difficulties we need leaders who will design and implement concrete and sound economic and social policies that are long lasting, result oriented and could help lift millions from poverty, diseases and illiteracy. We do not need leaders who are preoccupied with how to enrich themselves; prolong their rule; and who engage in short term ill conceived, vote buying, cosmetic policies and programmes that increase poverty and turn the people into slaves.

Africans need leaders who will not think only about the future of their great grand children and then loot and hide millions of dollars for them as Arap Moi, Obiang Nguema, Denis Sassou, Paul Biya and Omar Bongo have done. I hope they will be able to go to France to defend themselves against corruption charges brought against them by Transparency International. The new leaders needed in Africa must be those who think about how the great grand children of the entire nation and continent will fare in future. We need leaders who will not steal from their countries and then ask the poor people to tighten their belts and embrace economic hardships with open arms as seen in Nigeria where the government has resorted to re-branding the image of the country instead of fighting corruption and poverty. We need leaders who will invest in the economy and create jobs for the youth.

In this 21st Century we need leaders who will not collude and connive with Swiss Banks and banks in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Britain, Jersey Island, US and a host of offshore banks in the Caribbean and the Pacific to cheat their poor countries as Mobutu, Eyadema, Lansana Conte, Sani Abacha, Bakili Muluzi, and the evil genius Ibrahim Babadjinda did to their countries thereby surrendering their people to the altar of poverty. We need leaders who will not pay lip service to fighting corruption and then turn to loot the treasuries of their countries as Bakili Muluzi, Arap Moi, Mobutu, Lansana Conte of Guinea did and which Obiang Nguema, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Blaise Campore of Burkina Faso are currently doing.

We need a new crop of leaders who will not tend the presidency into a family estate as Gnassingbe Eyadema and Laurent Kabila did and which Yuweri Museveni, Hosni Mubarak and a host of others are following. In Uganda Yoweri Museveni is the president; his wife Janet Keinembabazi Kataha Museveni is the First Lady, MP and a Minister; his son Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba is an army commander of his elite group and a possible successor of Museveni. Museveni s younger brother, Caleb Akandwanaho, is senior presidential advisor on defence. His daughter Natasha Karugire is private secretary to the president. Joseph Kabila succeeded his father Laurent Kabila as president and so did Faure Gnassingbe who succeeded his father Gnassingbe Eyadema in violation of Togo s Constitution which stipulates that the Speaker of Parliament should succeed the president in the event of his death. Gamal Mubarak is poised to succeed his 81 year old father Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt in the event of his death. This kind of government by hereditary and family association cannot go on.

The years of leadership incompetence, weak, ineffective, totalitarian and corrupt government as seen in DRC, Uganda, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe must give way to strong, effective, corruption free and solution driven government as seen in Botswana.

In this 21st Century, Africans need leaders who will not hide behind diplomacy and condone negative practices by their colleagues such as subversion of the constitution and subjugation of the people as witnessed in Guinea and Mauritania, where the army have taken power; and in Tunisia and Algeria where the rulers have changed the constitution to run for a third term in office.

History is always the best teacher. In 1215 when the people of England were faced with poverty, diseases, homelessness, corrupt monarchy and aristocracy, they came together and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta which laid down the foundation of modern democracy and its associated freedoms and rights. The French too when faced with a brutal, corrupt, merciless, bankrupt, despotic monarchy and aristocracy chosed to rebel, ushering in a revolution which forced the King out of power, and turned France from a property estate of a King into an independent prosperous Republic.

This is a good lesson for Africa. Looking at the poor economic, political and social standing of Africa in the global community, is it not time for Africans wherever we are to rise up and use the ballot to demand change in leadership and accountability from those who rule? Is it not time for Africans to take our leaders to task and ask them the hard questions that journalists fear to ask? Is it not time to ask them to account for the billions of revenue they receive every year? Is it not time to vote for those who can put Africa on the path of economic prosperity? We must use the ballot to vote these incompetence politicians out of office and bring in new blood, new ideas, and new policies.

We have been fooled for quite too long. We must vote for candidates on merits rather than party and tribal affiliation, for this is what has made Europe, America, Japan, Korea what they are today. We have been told that Africa is poor while our leaders receive several billions of dollars annually. We must ask them to tell us how those billions of dollars have been utilised. We must not rest until Africa becomes a continent for all her citizens not just a few. We must not rest until the continent becomes free from leadership incompetence, corrupt, weak and despotic rule.

At this critical moment in world economic crises Africans cannot afford the same old faces, the same old ideas, the same old politics, the incompetence, the corruption, the nepotism and we cannot afford to remain poor in the abundance of natural resources.


Impression without expression leads to depression. Email [email protected]
By: Bismark Omari Somuah