Opinion: The misnomer called African leaders

During the cab ride to the airport in Lusaka on my way to Kigali this morning, my taxi driver told me that Zambia has had 6 Presidents since Independence in 1964. I had heard this as well from some of the Zambian delegates at the conference I attended this week in Lusaka on Migration in Africa.

This year, Zambia will hold general elections and if the current President loses, he will hand over office to his opponent and move on. This has been the pattern of succession in this amazing country. Amazing simply for the rarity of its peaceful, bloodless and mature democratic process within the context of governance in Africa.

John, my cab driver, thought I was Ugandan at first so he asked me – what is wrong with Museveni? I said I don’t know, while immediately understanding what he meant. His question really was – why are there so many African leaders who, no matter how well they start and no matter how just their cause at the beginning of their service, refuse to leave the position or transition to power peacefully?

Why do so many of them believe that once they assume power, like some monarchs of old, they become transformed into deities, there to impose their absolute will on their personal fiefdoms? Why do so many of them believe that assumption of headship of a country translates to a right of conversion of that country’s assets? In short, why do they believe they can do anything they want and get away with it? Before attempting to answer these questions, let’s take a few examples of what we’re talking about here.

The most infamous is ‘Uncle Bob’, Robert Mugabe, reputed to be the most educated President in the world with 7 degrees, who has been the ruler (notice I didn’t say leader) of Zimbabwe for almost 30 years, bringing socio-economic confusion to what was previously one of Africa’s most vibrant economies, under the guise of nationalism and local empowerment.

Who, after twenty something years of his presidency, was allegedly asked by a journalist when was he going to say goodbye to the people of Zimbabwe, to which he allegedly responded – where are they going?

How about Yoweri Museveni of Uganda who John asked me about, who has just more or less ‘muscled’ his way into power yet again? After 30 years? Or the latest on my radar, Yahya Jammeh, President of Gambia for 22 years now, who is reputed to be the richest President in Africa (!) and who has started to introduce ‘interesting’ ideologies in the country, creating internal tension and negatively impacting the tourism that Gambia’s economy has traditionally relied on? We mustn’t forget the veterans like President Jose Dos Santos, who has ruled Angola since 1979, a very closed country with little to show in all this time in terms of infrastructural development and a massive disparity between the haves and the have nots.

Or Paul Biya of Cameroun who has been President for the past 36 years with little or no development in that country throughout that time, allegedly running a quietly suppressive regime, and whose pictures in all government offices and public buildings today still shows him as the young man he was 36 years ago. Subliminal programming or what? Finally for this segment, drum roll for Africa’s longest serving Head of State, Teodoro Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, whose son is his Vice President and will succeed him if he resigns. Hmmmm!

Let’s take some other examples. Jacob Zuma of present day South Africa who, through the myopic lens of his party politics, cannot see the unprecedented damage being done to that great country which has been a forerunner is so many areas, not least of all the culture of statesmanship, conciliation and forward looking progress that Nelson Mandela tried to build. Or Denis Nguesso of Congo, former opposition leader, who recently got a pass for a third term through a change in the Constitution by referendum. Completion of his third term in office will make him President for way more than 20 years.

I can’t go on without mentioning Goodluck Johnathan, immediate past President of Nigeria, whose claim to fame now is that he did what other African leaders don’t do – he conceded defeat and allowed a peaceful transition to power for the opposition party. Should we be saying thank you? When actually what he and others before him did was to hand over a hulking carcass of a country that had been totally devoured by his government of impunity in just 8 years, with minimal infrastructural development and social reform even through the years of unprecedented oil boom.

Under him, Nigeria was like an antelope in its prime, first attacked and eaten by lions, then ravaged by hyenas before finally being picked apart by vultures. The current President, Mohammadu Buhari and his team ,are left with trying to put meat back on the picked-bare bones of Nigeria. No! We shall not say thank you.

It’s exhausting even to attempt to address the questions posed above but here goes. My father, one of the most brilliant minds of our time (yes I’m biased but it’s also true), once said something to me during a discussion we were having about Africa that I think is uncommonly profound. He said “African rulers do not understand the concept of limits of power.

They only understand the extent of power”. In other words, he suggests that most African rulers do not appreciate one of the cardinal rules of governance – which is that power has limits. The whole point behind the principle of checks and balances is exactly derived from this theory – that there should be no absolute power conferred on anyone, especially a democratically elected President or Head of State. Does this not make sense, given what history tells us and given man’s propensity to exercise power absolutely? But we never seem to learn from history do we?

Even the laudable Mo Ibrahim Foundation, set up to focus on the critical role of leadership and good governance in Africa by establishing The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership and the Ibrahim Index of African governance, does not seem to have made much of a dent. Since 2007, only 3 former African Presidents have been awarded the prize – Joachim Chicano of Mozambique (2007), Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008) and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde (2011). There are 54 African countries and only 3 have been deemed worthy of this prize so far. So sad that there seems to be little aspiration to win this prize!

Could the reason that these men who once promised their people basic rights, a better country and a great future have so completely reneged of these promises and undertakings be based on fear? Hear me out. Could it be that given where they are coming from (of course they all have different backgrounds and socio-cultural conditioning), when they get into that ultimate position, there is an overriding impulse that’s continually urging them to grab and pillage, whispering in their minds – you must never go back from whence you came?

Or could it be the fear from the people themselves, the people who elected them into those positions, that prevents them from taking any decisive action by prudently exercising their power of the thumb?

Could it be the fear for their lives, the lives of their children and families that makes majority do nothing, given that the positions of president or head of state also comes with the lovely privilege of being Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces? Just look at what’s happened in those countries in Africa where people have tried to demand for the right to be treated with the respect that their voting these rulers into the highest level of political office deserves.

Could this be the reason for the seeming impunity by which these rulers continue to amass personal wealth from their countries, deny their people worthy lives and destroy the fabric of human decency? No matter what the fear, in fact no matter what the reason, nothing makes it acceptable for them to plunder the assets of their countries and their people or to actively facilitate the creation of an uncertain and brutish future for the coming generations.

Let’s add another dimension. Could the Comity of Nations not play a bigger role in terms of encouraging accountability and probity from these leaders? I recently watched a YouTube video allegedly of a very senior official in the U.S. government, saying that they did not have a compelling reason to intervene in many of issues affecting Sub Saharan Africa because we don’t really impact the geo-political dynamics of the world. A cynic may interpret that to mean – sort out your petty, provincial issues.

Do what ever you want with yourselves. It’s your problem so let the over 1 billion of you resolve them. I’ve got to say that in a way I agree. Why should other nations take responsibility for an issue that we as Africans (not meant in a homogenous sense because we are not but for classification as a people) seem to have abdicated? We need to sort out our own problems, even if the rest of the world generally just looks on and the presidents or heads of state in question cloak their actions under the guise of sovereignty and constitutional rights.

On the plane, a colleague sitting next to me drew my attention to a section in a brochure by the Rwanda Development Board titled – Why Invest in Rwanda? One of the reasons stated is due to Rwanda being “Politically stable with well functioning institutions, rule of law and zero tolerance for corruption”. This sentence so insightfully captures the essence of good governance, and could very well be the mission statement for every country in Africa, indeed for countries the world over.

Rwanda is seen by many as a model country and with good cause. It manifestly exemplifies the sentence above through the leadership of its President, Paul Kagame, who I’ve had the pleasure to meet and engage with. This is not to confer on President Kagame a sainthood or knighthood. He has generated significant controversy and recently started a third term in office. It remains to be seen how that will play out.

The important thing about him though is that he is leading his country in the right direction with progressive policies like access to education and information technology and gender balance, supporting intra-African connectivity to help promote the integration and prosperity of Africa, providing his people with not just the basics but a right to a decent, humane life, providing them with opportunity and most importantly, making them take pride in their heritage.

After landing in Kigali, on my way to the hotel, my taxi driver said to me in the car – “Rwanda is known for its safety and its cleanliness. That is our culture. Safety to us means no corruption because where there is no corruption, there can be no crime.” How profound!

This is what is needed across Africa. The different peoples of our beloved continent need to take pride in those who represent us as our Presidents and Heads of State through our power to vote them in and out, through our power to speak up when they do wrong and through our power to demand what is rightfully ours – Respect.

The respect that comes when African rulers realise that political stability does not mean the right for them and their families to perpetuate power, but rather means stable political transitions, stable socio-economic policies, strong institutions and value systems, all working together towards a clear vision of the progressive development and growth of Africa. The new President of Tanzania, John Magufili, known as the Bulldozer, seems to be doing things the right way by making radical reforms left and right to curb government wastage, excess and corruption.

The Nigerian President’s focus is on reshaping the economy, improving security and stamping out corruption. So that Nigeria may no longer be termed “fantastically corrupt”. We need many more like them. We need many, many more. In order that we do not continue to inertly condone the vicious cycle of getting ‘the rulers we deserve’, we need to realise that we deserve so much better. So much more. We deserve respectful Leaders. Ask for it. Demand it. Peaceably. With your thumb. With your voice. All over Africa.

One last thing. Always talk with taxi drivers when you travel. There’s a lot to be learnt from them.
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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Adefunke Adeyemi is a 12 year veteran of the Global Aviation Industry and a transformative leader focused on bringing value and international standards to the industry, impacting lives and the business environment through her work and initiatives. Twitter: @funkieadeyemi

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