The inconvenient truth: Africa keeps changing drummers mid-song

Professor Douglas Boateng Opinion May - 27 - 2025 , 09:57 7 minutes read

In the realm of African State-owned enterprises (SOEs) administration and leadership, there is an important truth that tends to be overlooked amidst celebratory speeches and grand inaugurations.

This truth is quite simple: institutions thrive not merely on charisma, but on stability and continuity.

Unfortunately, continuity in many of these organisations isn’t always established. It often faces challenges that lead to unintended consequences.

When transitions are bipartisan, they can sometimes unintentionally disrupt the positive progress made by earlier leaders and their administrations.

Currently, numerous African nations encounter significant challenges in attaining non-disruptive development within state-owned enterprises.

This predicament arises not from a deficiency of innovative ideas but rather from the frequent rejection of initiatives that predate the existing regime.

Since 1999, the practice of replacing entire leadership teams, primarily for the sake of appeasement and the sentiment of “you’re not one of us, " has persistently undermined continuity within many state-owned organisations.

Legacy lost in transition

In countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana, leadership transitions within key state-owned entities often occur without formal handover notes, structured exit briefings, or succession plans.

These are not isolated cases; they are systemic.

South Africa’s Eskom exemplifies the issue. Frequent executive changes have led to inconsistent policies and procurement chaos, resulting in blackouts, rising debt, and diminished investor confidence.

Nigeria’s NNPC has undergone repeated reforms, each celebrated as a breakthrough; yet, they have failed to tackle core inefficiencies due to a lack of leadership continuity that does not build upon previous technical decisions.

The Ghana Cocoa Board, once a model of crop governance, has seen reforms under successive administrations but lacks consolidation.

The Komenda Sugar Factory, a significant investment, remains virtually idle due to leadership changes and policy U-turns.

Foundation of continuity

Institutional memory is not nostalgia. It is a strategic resource. In mature systems, it enables organisations to avoid repeating past mistakes, implement reforms consistently, and maintain momentum across leadership cycles. Africa’s development ambitions make continuity even more crucial.

Infrastructure investments, industrialisation drives, and sovereign wealth planning require a 20–30-year horizon. But many African institutions are politicised battlegrounds.

Appointments are used as personal rewards, not public trust. Governance becomes a race without a baton and, too often, a race backwards.

Corruption, pride, and the price of disruption

Indeed, corruption must be addressed, and the individuals responsible should be held accountable based on verifiable truths rather than alternative narratives. However, the pursuit of combating corruption should not entail the complete disregard of prior experiences.

In Africa, the discourse surrounding anti-corruption is frequently utilised as a convenient tool, effectively sweeping away valuable experiences, records, and institutional knowledge. Regrettably, it occasionally obscures genuine reform in favour of pride and political vendetta.

In Ghana’s SSNIT, among many others, forensic audits are routine, but few reforms endure through leadership changes.

In Nigeria, oil-sector reform stalls due to abrupt appointments and politicisation. South Africa’s Eskom has had over 10 CEOs in 15 years, each starting over and inheriting a broken baton.

This is not cleansing; it’s cyclical corrosion. Reform, when disconnected from legacy, turns into revenge with a new face.

Continuity legislation

Africa must begin to legislate structured handovers. It is no longer enough to hope for stability; it must be mandated.

Transition notes, continuity audits, and formal successor briefings should be institutionalised.

Singapore offers a model where state-owned investment companies operate under long-term plans, immune to ministerial reshuffles and changes in government. In Rwanda, boards such as the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) operate under performance-based continuity mandates.

Continuity is not resistance to reform. It is the foundation for effective reform. Plans that endure across administrations build trust with citizens, civil servants, and investors.

Billions lost to institutional instability

The financial burden of disrupted governance is staggering. According to the African Development Bank, over $50 billion worth of infrastructure projects across Africa have been stalled or abandoned due to political transitions and regime changes.

In Ghana, successive governments have left critical roads, hospitals, and energy projects incomplete, resulting in taxpayers incurring over $2.3 billion in sunk costs between 2012 and 2022.

In Nigeria, PwC estimates that over ₦1.5 trillion (approximately $3.5 billion USD) is lost annually due to inefficiencies and duplications resulting from public sector leadership turnover.

The NNPC’s restructuring cycles have discouraged investor confidence and delayed vital industry reforms.

South Africa’s Eskom recorded a R20.5 billion loss (approximately $1.2 billion USD) in 2019, largely due to poor procurement practices and executive turnover.

These are not just financial losses.

They are hospitals that remain unopened, classrooms that remain unbuilt, and futures that are deferred.

Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), launched in 2017, was envisioned as a transformative national asset.

However, without coordinated freight policies, it quickly encountered operational and financial challenges.

With shifting oversight and ineffective cargo strategies, the SGR now incurs an annual loss exceeding $200 million, highlighting disrupted planning. In Malawi, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) suffers from chronic dysfunction due to abrupt leadership changes.

Grain procurement and subsidy programs are relatively poorly executed and often abandoned. Despite reform attempts, the organisation struggles to ensure food security, showing that governance must outlast appointees to deliver value.

Cultural shift: From possession to custodianship

Africa’s transformation is not just a policy problem but a mindset issue. Leaders must view their roles as custodianship, not conquest.

Titles are transient; legacies are eternal.

When officials act like monarchs rather than mentors, institutions suffer, and governance turns into a revolving door of ego.

The “I came to change everything” mindset should shift to “I came to strengthen what works and fix what doesn’t.”

Invisible leadership, which builds quietly and refines gracefully, must become Africa’s new standard. Ego builds monuments; humility builds nations.

Role for African Union

The African Union has a critical role to play in promoting a culture of continuity. As part of Agenda 2063, the AU should encourage and codify mandatory handover frameworks across public institutions and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

A Continental Charter on institutional continuity can establish standards for member states, supported by peer review systems and incentive-based compliance mechanisms.

Just as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) assesses democracy and governance, a new stream could track how transitions are managed in strategic institutions.

We need a continental consensus: institutional memory is not an accessory to governance. It is a necessity.

Parable of the bridge builder

In African folklore, there is the tale of the old man who spent his final years building a bridge he would never cross.

When asked why, he replied: “So my grandchildren will not drown when the floods return.”

Too often, leaders in Africa dismantle bridges mid-construction to etch their names on new stones.

But true leadership is not about being first or being loud; it is about being faithful to the process of nation-building, even when the fruits are harvested by others.

You do not build history with hammers of ego. You build it with bricks of humility.