African Leadership: Hope Or Mirage
Introduction
Lussier and Achua (2007) define leadership as “the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change”. Leadership is a universal human process found in all human societies. Since human beings are essentially similar in all the ways that really matter, it follows that theories used to understand and explain human motivation and behavior in one part of the world may be used to explain human motivation and behavior in other parts of the world (Jallow, 2015). Organizational culture and leadership theory confer itself particularly well to the study of leadership in Africa. Edgar Schein’s (2010) insights help us visualize the African nation-state as an organizational “macro culture” within which exist levels of organizational “micro cultures”. Schein suggests that understanding the “shared assumptions” of group members is key to resolving intra-organizational conflict and maintains that “leadership and culture are two sides of the same coin” (2010, p. 3). Both insights are useful to an understanding of African leadership cultures. Culture, Schein writes, “is ultimately created. . . by leaders” (2010, p. 3). The cultures of material poverty and political intolerance in contemporary Africa are no mere accidents of history; neither are they manifestations of inherent African backwardness; or lasting immutable effects of the colonial encounter. They are in fact created and nurtured by African leaders. The saying that a people gets the leadership it deserves may perhaps more usefully be rendered a people’s leadership determines the nature of the culture they get. Leadership cannot be divorced from its cultural context, just as culture cannot help but be shaped by leadership.
Summary of the Main Points
The African continent remains at the periphery in world affairs, as many have argued. Similarly, many scholars have advanced cogent reasons for this unfortunate reality. The development of the continent is also unimpressive, relative to the potential of the African economies. It is therefore important that Africa pursues its own socioeconomic development approach instead of what appears to be inappropriate policies that are being implemented in most if not all African countries. Africa should make a case for African i. e. traditional/indigenous leadership and examines political leadership in particular with the view of ensuring that Africa reclaims its lost glory and recovers its stolen legacy. African leadership should be infused with thought leadership, thought liberation, and critical consciousness. And critical consciousness and thought liberation should be linked to decolonizing the minds of Africans.
Africa’s Leadership Challenges
Africa’s seemingly endemic problems have been attributed to three major factors: inappropriatepolicies; bad governance; incompetent, corrupt and ineffective leaders. In the last analysis theycould all be reduced to leaders and leadership. The challenges against which African Leaders have failed to guard include:
The policy of ‘rewarding friends and punishing foes. One basic principle of the rule of law is that laws apply to everybody. If the sign says "No Parking," you're not supposed to park there even if you're a pal of the President or Kind. Another principle of the rule of law is that government can't make up new rules to help its cronies and hurt its adversaries except through due process, such as getting a legislature to pass a new law.
The policy of rewarding friends stifles criticism and promoted a hand-clapper culture. It means that it is almost impossible to sustain momentum on projects when new leadership arrives, particularly when that new leadership is opposed to the work of the former administration. Policies that favour only supporters have created a system that rewards short-term thinking and incentivizes hero worship and laziness rather than prudence, while encouraging divisiveness and cronyism. Furthermore, these structures do not simply motivate or aid those with bad intentions; they act as a barrier to those citizens with good intentions. Any leadership that operates under this policy is being encouraged to act badly and has strong incentives for cronyism and corruption, and a general lack of patriotism.
Nepotism. Amnesty International Report (2010) on human rights in Africa found that nepotism impedes community access to housing and services, and leads to the collapse of some municipal governments and to widespread protests among affected communities. Nepotism is only rampant and popular in Africa because of several values and the mentalities upheld by most Africans and not ably dealt with by African leaders. Family values, ethnicity, religion and tribalism are all factors that instigate favoritism. Africans hold in high respect these norms and values to the point that they affect adversely a leader’s decision-making process. African Leadership has been infiltrated rather obnoxiously with sentimental sympathy and a biased thinking faculty which denies an equivocal decision-making process. It is common in Africa, especially in the civil service to find a department full of village or tribal friends of the politically powerful. Often, none the officers have any qualifications for the post other than being clan members. The price of nepotism causes a complete failure of a country, or an organization to develop.
Blurred vision. It has been said that ‘where there is no vision the people perish. ’ Blurred vision of what things should be resulted from the failure of nationalist leaders after the attainment of independence to switch from their role as freedom fighters to that of economic modernizers. Most leaders had been envying the opulent lifestyles of their oppressors and once independence was attained, focused on making themselves similarly opulent. Those leaders who succeeded in adjusting themselves to their new tasks are the ones who never lost sight of the fact that freedom is merely a means to the end of social and economics reorganization. Most African leaders have failed to delve into literature that deals with developmental problems or consult economic and social experts as to what should be done. The twofold danger of (a) dwelling in the past and (b) petty jealousies of wanting to be the first among equals have also contributed to the lack of a true developmental mindset. In the final analysis, there has not been sufficient criticism and disdain for leaders that have done and achieved nothing remarkable, with each leader coming to regard their leadership as merely a means to personal enrichment and prestige.
Competition for preeminence. Soon after attaining independence, African freedom fighters and leaders rapidly embarked on personal struggles to be “first among equals”. This unnecessary competition, which deserves the condemnation of those people who want to foster African unity and to promote harmonious cooperation, continues in African politics today as leaders often are engrossed in personal struggles for power and preeminence in their political parties instead of embracing the spirit of teamwork and patriotism that was the hallmark of African pioneers.
Corruption. Today, corruption is everywhere in Africa and it is the major cause of poverty and conflicts. Corruption in Africa takes place in many forms. Corruption in Africa has grown at an alarming rate due to poverty, which is rampant. Miserable salaries often cannot suffice to cater for a big and extended family force many people to opt for bribes to meet the needs. Corruption has gone from a mere act of accepting bribes to a complete state of mind and way of life. It has progressed from the poor attempting to "make ends meet" to a sense of entitlement from anyone in a position of authority. Because of African social fabric, effective drives for changes need to start from the top and progress to the bottom. In this regard, African leaders have failed to set the example that all others must follow. Most African leaders have used their political position to embezzle economic resources - a process that has often involved the mass pauperization of their ‘subjects’ and the deepening of their dependence on the patrimonial favours of the “ruler”.
Dictatorship. Three things will bring about a dictatorship in Africa: (1) too much trust, (2) too little trust, and (3) neurotic ambition. Of the three causes, the third presents the least problem. The real problem is posed by those leaders who will lapse into dictatorial tendencies either because their countrymen trust them too much or too little. In framing policies and designing measures, therefore, leaders must rely more on public opinion and the opinions of colleagues rather than on their imagined superior intellect. The task of leadership involves following as well as leading.
Failure to Re-define GoalsIn the constantly dynamic world of politics, challenges continue to evolve. It is important therefore for a leader to be equally dynamic and adaptable, laying out a series of goals, and recognizing with relative precision when it is time to move from one goal to the other. Indeed, if such a re-definition of goals proves an elusive task, it might be an advisable and perceptive course of action for the leader to leave the arena, bowing out with dignity. In the case of Nelson Mandela of South Africa, his goal over so many years had been to fight and end the apartheid rule in that country. Having achieved this and become that country’s first ever black president, Mandela ruled for one presidential term and retired. Some say that was because he was old and tired of politics. Others provide various other reasons. But it could equally be argued that Mandela had achieved what he set out to do, and having achieved it, there was no need to remain in the active political arena. To be sure, there were other challenges that the new South Africa was now facing, but why not let facing those particular challenges be the goal of other political players? It is important for leaders, having succeeded in achieving their first goals - whether this be independence as was case with the African Pioneers, or food security or other such goals- for them re-define their goals in line with the needs and socio-political dynamics of their countries.
Africa’s Leadership Remedies
Addressing Africa’s leadership challenge successfully will require accurate insight into the roots of the dilemma the continent appears to face today - one in which its countries remain relatively poor, economically and technologically, in a globalized world defined by competitiveness in wealth creation rather than the strategic imperatives of world politics of a bygone era such as the Cold War. In that era, these imperatives defined the influence and relevance of several nations beyond their economic wealth. This was the world in which Africa came of age. But the leadership African countries need today is one that can stabilize, develop, and modernize them economically and technologically in order to improve the living standards of their citizens and become more competitive in a global context (Moghalu, 2017). It’s not enough to lament Africa’s leadership deficit.
What should be done about it? Although leaders in Africa have traditionally been seen as having the responsibility to drive governance and transformation in every case, the failure, with a handful of exceptions, of the political leaders of African countries to create transformational outcomes that take their citizens out of poverty by creating the wealth of nations invites a significant role reversal in which citizens begin to drive the leadership agenda. There are three important steps to be taken in addressing the leadership problem, and we return to where we began - identifying the fact that most political leaders in African problems do not understand the real meaning of leadership and, where they might have a clue, are too self-serving because they have not been adequately made accountable for their failures. First, aspiring leaders in Africa must be trained and prepared to become leaders in the public sphere.
This is the quickest way to short-circuit the deep cultural problems that bedevil the leadership enterprise on the continent. Second, the electorate in African countries must be empowered with basic economic and political education. And third, Africa’s weak leadership culture will not change without an activist demand for accountability and leadership performance by citizens and civil society, much like shareholders and “activist investors” today hold the feet of CEOs and boards of modern business corporations to the fire.
Leadership Training
Leadership training, to be effective, will require a focus on the right things, all with an eye on creating the ability to lead with transformational impact given the “distance” between African countries and parts of the developing world and emerging markets such as East Asia and Latin America. This means a focus on visioning and the discipline of execution, the formulation and effective execution of public policy. In doing so, the well-tested and developed lessons of leadership science utilized in the global private sector, such as the difference between leadership and management, will need to be adapted for public service. Not everyone can or will be a leader. Understanding what leadership gurus call the “seven transformations” or “action logics” of leadership - the opportunist, the diplomat, the expert, the achiever, the individualist, the strategist, and the (transformational) alchemist - is necessary, coupled with how to grow in progression through these logics, if leaders are to be assigned to or achieve roles well matched with their capabilities (Rooke & Torbert (2009). Innovative entrepreneurs are now filling the niche of meeting the need for leadership training in Africa. Fred Swanicker was the early pioneer, starting with his high school-level African Leadership Academy in South Africa, and he went ahead to establish the African Leadership University, which, hardly surprising, has campuses in two countries, Rwanda and Mauritius. This effort will likely result in a future generation of leaders far better equipped than the career politicians whose claim to leadership rests largely on their longevity in public office or in loitering in the corridors of political power.
Economic and Political Education
Low levels of education on economics and democratic political and governance processes inhibit citizens in African countries from assessing public policy effectively and holding political leaders accountable. This has resulted in low standards of governance, in particular in the area of macroeconomic management. If citizens do not understand the issues of public policy fully - even if they will know, anecdotally, whether their quality of life is better or worse - they will not be able to ask the right questions and interrogate public policy effectively. Providing this kind of education to the mass of citizens should be the focused objective of think tanks and civil society organizations. Too many think tanks in Africa are focused on “high-end” academic or policy work that has little relevance to the realities of governance in the continent. Effective political education must also persuade voters on the dangers of vote-buying that is practiced in electionsin several African countries.
Activism for Accountability
Increased activism for democratic accountability by citizens and civil society is essential to improving the quality of leadership in Africa. This is already happening but has yet to attain a critical mass that turns it into a powerful force. Here, Africa’s leapfrogging adaptation of mobile technologies and social media is a ready vehicle for mass mobilization. In Nigeria, an incumbent Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, was voted out of office in the 2015 presidential elections and conceded defeat in a remarkable gesture uncharacteristic of many African leaders. Activism should also set clear leadership selection criteria for aspiring political leaders in African countries. Such leadership selection criteria should focus on three factors by which candidates should be assessed: character, qualifications, and experience.
Conclusion
Africa continues to face a host of challenges as it struggles to bring about inclusive, equitable and sustainable development. African leaders supported by the passiveness of the citizens and the weaknesses in the global governance institutions have wrecked havoc on the continent and its people through poorly thought out ideologies and policies, corruption, illicit capital flights, dubious agreements with multinational and transnational corporations, abuse of human rights, etc. While several efforts have been made to address Africa’s leadership and governance challenges, these have generally been externally driven and informed.
The strategies, it has been argued, have been completely detached from the continent’s rich pre-colonial history as if there was nothing significant to be learned. It has been argued that although leaders and governance systems suited the material conditions of the time, much of what the leaders did are still relevant today. Such issues as revenue/tax collection, learning and making use of foreign knowledge, skills and expertise, democratic governance, economic diversification, and encouraging intra-African trade continue to be relevant today.
