AFRICA GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP CONVENTION: EXCERPTS FROM OBASANJO'S SPEECH

Kenya institute of management (K.I.M) in partnership with the African Leadership Forum (A.L.F) has organized a convention on AFRICAN GOVERNANCE and LEADERSHIP to discuss, share and deliberate on issues of leadership and governance in the African continent, to shape the future of the African continent through examination of the private sector and public sector partnership in ameliorating the African condition , the theme of the convention focusses on “claiming the second decade” of these century, the convention kicked off today with very prominent people gracing the two day event. Former Nigerian president Olesegun Obasanjo and his South African counterpart Thambo Mbeki, KACC director P.L.O Lumumba, a representative from the UNDP, Peter Mutuka of the kenya commercial bank group, hon ministers from the kenyan government and many development stakeholders in the African continent were present .   

After very insightful opening remarks from the CEO of K.I.M and A.L.F, Dr. Reuben Mutiso the chairman of Tecura international began by giving some brilliant historical perspectives on the contribution of Africa to civilization and development.

Thabo Mbeki was the next on stage. His was a short but realistic introductory remark, from the conventions theme of claiming the second decade, Thabo Mbeki pointed out that we might possibly be loosing the second decade and stated that things are happening to support this. He called on the various governments and stakeholders to convey the lessons from the convention to the rest of Africa and to continue teaching the outcome of deliberations to answer how we can claim the second decade of our century.

Olesegun Obasanjo

Olesegun Obasanjo being the patron of the convention gave a very powerful and educative speech which is the focus of this post. He began by saying that Africa has a lot to learn and share about leadership, understanding its challenges and ensuring that the outcome of the many ongoing deliberations has an impact on the continents well being. He clearly pointed to the fact that quality leadership was the major step for African development. He urged the people to evaluate the impact of leadership, identify what Africa has done right and how we can continue doing this.  He emphasized on how we need to put into perspective the outcome of this convention so that we can claim the second generation. He identified coup-de-tats, racism and tribalism as some instances of managerial deficits and how this resulted into intimidating challenges for Africa.

Africa's sub regions

He revisited  how at independence, nearly five decades ago, optimism was the driving force, how everyone believed that Africa would develop at quantum levels, how after independence Africa sat back almost with her arms folded only to realize that we didn’t have the political kingdom we thought we had. At the time Africa was viewed as a continent of dereliction and decay- moving backwards in a world moving forward, he substantiated all this claims with some very empirical evidence on the GDP, per capita income and export statistics.

He continued elaborating how our economies have preserved the colonial mood and received directions from quarters that bear no context to the African story. African union, NEPAD and African Peer Review Mechanisms were responses to solve this great undoing according to Obasanjo. He again gave some empirical statistics on the progress that is manifest in the new development of Africa.

Increased collective GDP -1.6 trillion dollars equal to that of Russia, The increased consumer spending in Africa, The democratized economy, How African government’s is implementing policies to enhance investment, How Africa is experiencing more reforms than the Middle East and Asian countries.

He called for value driven and interpretive leadership armed with clarity of goals. He asked Africa to build consensus on shared values which will enhance good governance at the continental level because of the structural and psychological outcomes of the shared values. He gave the following as some consensus on Africa’s shared values. Sense of communal solidarity, Our shared humanity, The drive for protection of the weak and elderly in our communities, The belief that we are our brothers and sisters’ keepers, Our common African destiny, Resistance to tribalism and racism.

He gave the link between the management, leadership and governance, how these concepts can help in building a continental synergy in creating a developmental phase to usher in a united Africa. His explanations on the need of private and public sectors partnership to overcome the challenges facing the public sector in the developing countries and its necessity in establishing cost effective leadership . He placed particular emphasis on how development can not be achieved without participation of the private sector.

The next decade will be an interesting one, an era of opportunity, but without adequate preparation, without a sense of urgency and speed we will not be able to realize this opportunity, this is where leadership matters a lot is the massage of Obasanjo. As part of the adequate preparation to enjoy the benefits of these opportunities Africa needs to invest in its youth, to imbibe a culture of entrepreneurship, job creation and be prepared for leadership. He asked the institutions of education to focus on producing job creators and not job seekers. Gender balance in governance and leadership is an area that should be fully incorporated into development plans.

Such is the form of discussion going on, such is the conventions that shape the direction of a nation, a region, a continent and the world at large. Africa and other third world states need to meet regularly and discuss their problem, exchange ideas and help forge a bright future for their people and regions.