... the hope for leadership today ...

Submitted by Cynthia Ayeza Mutabaazi

Who decides what is potential leadership for the continent and in what context does one then choose a leader for people?

I realise that we are living in a time when the potential for leadership on this continent is great. In fact every living person has the potential to lead but someone has got to be a follower I suppose. Anyhow, my problem with the current state of leadership on the African continent, albeit the world at large, is the lack of moral backbone we seem to continually harvest in what we have for leadership presently. The phase “lack of moral backbone” is used to mean (synonymously) the lack of good, righteous, honest, decent, proper, honourable, ethical, just and principled leaders. This is of course not saying that these kinds of leaders do not exist, but that we seem to get raw deals a little too often. One just has to look at the examples provided by Mugabe, Museveni, Gaddafi, Kabila (RIP), Mbeki, Bush, Clinton, Idi Amin and Kibaki to realise how frequently we deliver leaders that seem to lack the very values we purport to hold dear. (Of course, some of the above mentioned leadership characters bear marks of merit, yet we have also grown so accustomed to criticising them that we discarded the bits of good they may carry.)

My concern is that we are producing future leaders that will continue to lack these principles. We now once again stand at the dawn of an age of new world leadership with the likes of Zuma, Besigye, Ringa, Tsvangirai, Obama etc, etc all waiting in the wings to lead our respective nations in Africa and the world. Sometimes – actually, most times — I cannot help being skeptical about all of them. What makes Besigye any different from Museveni? What makes Tsvangirai any different from Mugabe? I hope it is obvious that I hold no personal grudge with the above mentioned characters. What I would like to know is if, as a people, we choose leadership merely to get rid of the current modern day dictator (presumably as a step of moving forward) or because we truly believe in the person’s leadership and have discerned those principles we should desire in leadership that are so hard to come by?

I am of the view that as a people, we tend to move from one corrupt government to another, from one “government of the people, for the people, by the people” – to another “government by the people, of a select few, for one person over the people”… Do you think it is just a question of “Power is sweet”? It does not really matter how this works. I believe that a people who do not understand the principles of righteousness and justice cannot possibly discern a leader with those attributes, which are necessary for any running of a country, organisation, group of people etc.

The kind of leadership that I would like to see on this continent, and even the world at large, is leadership that is mindful of righteousness and justice; a leadership that understands that the strong are held responsible for the weak; a leadership – I dare say – that recognises the fact that the truly weak of this world are not weak by choice. Every person is created with the greatest and most amazing amount of potential. Every person also is accorded a great amount of opportunities to maximise that potential. In reality, those of us that have had the privilege of being educated, travelled, enlightened, financially better off (in great or small ways) etc have used every opportunity to avoid taking responsibility for those who have not had the privilege of getting a decent education and whatever else that may help better one’s life. Whether one has been educated by life or professors at university (college), by being educated, one is thus responsible for those who have not had the privilege of attaining an education of sorts.

The kind of leadership I would like to see on this continent and in parts of the world is one that bears the mark of righteousness, justice and mercy; a leadership that is characteristically just, honest, honourable, ethical, principled; a leadership that recognises the huge responsibility that falls on the strong for the weak’s progress in life. No single person is here for themselves; if it were the case, then life in itself would be meaningless.

Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa – people that have been great leaders started with a dream. Hitler, Rhodes and Mugabe also started with a dream. It would be hypocritical for us to speak of leadership and give examples of only those whose reputation is glorious. Looking at the other side of the coin, and perhaps how misguided dreams can destroy a people, would help us to better converse on the kind of leadership we would like to see on the continent and in the world. It is what is done with the dream that matters. My suggestion then is that we strive for a dream (seek leadership) that benefits someone other than just the self … how to identify this leadership is the great challenge.

Cynthia Ayeza Mutabaazi
University of Pretoria
Thankful for the leadership of CP Watt 