Quote:
Originally Posted by type r
i cannot speak for africa but i have a view of kenya....................that is what is wrong with africa: leadership, the lack thereof. Lack of focus, sidetracked by tribal/personal sideshows.[/b]
|
I agree wholeheartedly that we lack focus. I think in this western world it is far too easy to get distracted and focus on things that don't matter, it is extremely difficult to not only focus on the things that matter but to focus on them consistently and over a long period of time. In regards to leadership, a good friend of mine wrote a paper regarding leadership and i thought i would share it with y'all (apologies for the length) taken from:
1) The Displaced African:
what's wrong with africa? is it africans?
2) The african dream group:
the poverty of leadership
And i quote:
Africa. That one word has come to be synonymous with social strife, suffering, poverty and myriads other negative connotations. Yet africa has always been and continues to be the richest continent as far as natural resources are concerned. Why then does it continue to lag behind in terms of development? why hasn’t it been able to jump on the bandwagon of industrialization? many excuses have been offered so far in an effort to explain this phenomenon and make sense of africa’s current predicament. Many culprits have been named over the years. Among them are poverty, corruption, insufficient foreign aid among others. Yet these challenges have been overcome by other countries, societies and nations the details of which are beyond the scope of this paper. Very rarely is the underlying issue addressed however, that of poor leadership. And when it is addressed it is never done so in a conclusive manner. “africa has long been saddled with poor, even malevolent, leadership: predatory kleptocrats, military-installed autocrats, economic illiterates, and puffed-up posturers. By far the most egregious examples come from nigeria, the democratic republic of the congo, and zimbabwe -- countries that have been run into the ground despite their abundant natural resources. But these cases are by no means unrepresentative: by some measures, 90 percent of sub-saharan african nations have experienced despotic rule in the last three decades. Such leaders use power as an end in itself, rather than for the public good; they are indifferent to the progress of their citizens (although anxious to receive their adulation); they are unswayed by reason and employ poisonous social or racial ideologies; and they are hypocrites, always shifting blame for their countries' distress. Under the stewardship of these leaders, infrastructure in many african countries has fallen into disrepair, currencies have depreciated, and real prices have inflated dramatically, while job availability, health care, education standards, and life expectancy have declined. Ordinary life has become beleaguered: general security has deteriorated, crime and corruption have increased, much-needed public funds have flowed into hidden bank accounts, and officially sanctioned ethnic discrimination -- sometimes resulting in civil war -- has become prevalent.” robert i. Rotberg could not have put it better. In his article titled “strengthening african leadership”, published in the july/august issue of foreign affairs, rotberg summed up the single most important issue facing africa; leadership…or lack thereof. This failure of leadership is by no means a recent predicament. It dates back .....
Too long to post in it's entirety. However, the point of the paper is pretty much in alignment with your point: Our continent is desperately crying for us to take personal responsibility and remain focussed and consistently work on the few things that are important and will help us all rise above the mess.