Leadership by example
Tanzania has a new president. Since assuming power a few months ago, Mr John Magufuli (aka The Bulldozer) has instituted very drastic measures to reduce government spending, the most popular being the cutting down on foreign travels by officials in terms of frequency and number of officials per trip.
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He turned Independence Day celebrations into a national clean-up exercise.
Taking a cue from the President, a district commissioner locked up civil servants who arrived late for a meeting. At the next meeting, they arrived two hours early. That's what we call leadership by example.
Next door in Nigeria, President Buhari is also leading the way. Just by his pronouncements about his intentions alone, high-ranking former ministers and governors are either being arrested in foreign lands or are being publicly investigated at home in Nigeria. That's a demonstration of leadership.
I've always maintained that all countries that have developed significantly were led by visionary leaders. It's diversionary to hear others say that we should leave our political leaders alone because the citizenry are the ones who are corrupt.
Yes, it may be true to an extent, but it is the duty of a true and serious leader to whip the rest of us into line. In fact, the leader should not give the rest of us the opportunity to tell him he is not doing well. He should not try to be nice or a gentleman because this is not the time for that. We are seriously behind time and we need a revolutionary mindset. And if it means losing an election because he is doing the right thing and people don't appreciate or understand immediately, I bet posterity will judge him kindly.
First test: the Kantanka vehicles are ready. This is an excellent opportunity for the government to lead the way by ordering all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to buy Kantanka vehicles.
Even grants that have an inbuilt clause for vehicles to be acquired from the donor countries can be negotiated. If the donor countries don't accept our terms, let's say bye-bye to them and sacrifice a bit for the future. Let's be looking at the next 20-50 years and how this little sacrifice will positively affect this nation's development.
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Writer’s E-mail : maalukaminta@yahoo.com