We must train good leaders now

Africa's development challenges have been blamed on the lack of a leadership that will take bold, selfless decisions to continue the work started by leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

It is, however, the perception that in spite of the pivotal roles leaders play in setting the political agenda, distributing resources and taking political actions, some elite who attempted to transform the colonially imposed socio-economic and political system only succeeded in entrenching their interests.

This is, sad to say, supported by facts: Africa is generally considered among the world’s most corrupt places.

It is a disappointment that of the 180 countries surveyed globally by Transparency International (TI) on corruption in 2018, the first country from Africa, Senegal, placed 67th, while South Africa and Tunisia, who were at par as the second from Africa on the list, placed 73rd globally, with Ghana and Burkina Faso, the third placed in Africa, taking the 78th position on the index.

It is even worse that seven out of the 10 countries considered the most corrupt on the list were from Africa, with six being in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to TI, political graft imposed the largest direct financial cost on a country.

These results call for an African leadership that is ever ready to motivate and inspire others, leadership that has commitment and passion and is accountable, creative and innovative.

Most importantly, there must be leadership that is selfless and really has the interest of the people at heart in order to drive the performance that will help achieve national goals.

The headache that has been expressed by many is the dearth of such quality leaders. The perception is that people who aspire to leadership positions do so not to serve but amass wealth and satisfy other selfish desires.

It is in this light that the Daily Graphic sees as instructive the advice given by a former Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, at the opening of the second Democracy and Governance Boot Camp in Tema last Monday, to young people seeking leadership positions to consider such elevations as an opportunity to seek the welfare of the people they desire to lead and not be used as avenues for graft and opportunities for families and friends to acquire wealth.

We commend Mrs Justice Wood for her admonition to leadership at all levels not to abuse the pecks and opportunities that come with their offices.

We reiterate that when that is done, the country will put itself in a position to spur its development. We pray for the time when TI’s corruption index will see Ghana, and for that matter African countries, relinquishing their poor showings on the corruption league and taking better places.

We cannot wish anything less, as leadership plays a key role in sustainable economic growth by providing opportunities for progress and development.

If for nothing at all, Asia’s remarkable economic growth is there as an inspiration to us, as it is attributed to inspiring leaders who were the backbone of the early stages of Asia’s economic transformation.
But this will not come automatically.

We need to work at it and reward good leadership, while severely punishing graft and corruption.

 We must immediately also look at establishing institutions that will focus on leadership, policy making, institutional effectiveness and accountability.

Our educational institutions, right from the basic level, must take the responsibility of inculcating leadership qualities such as honesty, humility, patriotism, communication skills, initiative and calculated risk-taking in learners.

We must be guided by the fact that when a child is trained the way he or she should go, he or she will not depart from it when he or she grows.