African Leaders on African Leadership & Governance

"Africa is beyond bemoaning the past for its problems. The task of undoing that past is on the shoulders of African leaders themselves, with the support of those willing to join in a continental renewal. We have a new generation of leaders who know that Africa must take responsibility for its own destiny, that Africa will uplift itself only by its own efforts in partnership with those who wish her well." ............Nelson Mandela

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Stop Blaming Colonialism, U.N. Chief Tells Africa. Barbara Crossette. New York Times, April 17, 1998.

Kofi Annan, the first United Nations Secretary General from sub-Saharan Africa, said today that it was time for Africans to hold their political leaders -- and not colonialism -- responsible for the civil wars and economic failures that ravage their lives. …In a report to the Security Council that an aide to Mr. Annan described as tougher on the Africans than some of the ''sunny'' surveys surrounding President Clinton's recent trip to the continent, the Secretary General said a winner-take-all attitude to politics had led to inequities of patronage and wealth…."Where there is insufficient accountability of leaders, lack of transparency in regimes, inadequate checks and balances, non-adherence to the rule of law, absence of peaceful means to change or replace leadership, or lack of respect for human rights, political control become excessively important and the stakes become dangerously high," Mr. Annan said.

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria

Obasanjo Blames Poor Leadership For Africa's Decline. Africa News Service, March 6, 2000.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has identified poor leadership as the root cause of the continued decline of the African continent. …Obasanjo said Africa is not less endowed than other regions that were now way ahead in terms of development… He compared Africa of the 1960s to other regions of the world such as Asia and Latin America which were at the same level of development as Africa but which have recorded marked socio-economic and political development while Africa continued to decline. …"In 1960, whatever parameters you look at, whether social or economic indicators, Africa has declined compared to the rest of the world, particularly when measured against those parts of the world that were comparable to us at that time such as Asia and Latin America," he said… "Why are we failing while the rest of the world is succeeding, yet Africa not less endowed as other parts of the world? I believe one word answers that question: leadership," he said. The Nigerian leader observed that despite the bleak scenario, there was certainly some redeeming features that could provide hope for the continent. "It lies in doing things right, and in having the right leadership. The difference between doing things right and doing things wrong is enormous. … Africa cannot continue on the same negative road (of having poor leadership) and expect things to work for the better.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa

Africa's New Realism. Thabo Mbeki. New York Times, June 24, 2002.

"A central feature of [NEPAD] is ensuring democracy, human rights and good governance. It sets out independent mechanisms for peer review, with provisions aimed at foreseeing problems and working to prevent their spread -- rather than just censuring and punishing when things go wrong. If programs in manufacturing, agriculture, education and health are to succeed, Africans in their millions must take an active part. …Most important, it is Africans who have done and will continue to do the planning. As George C. Marshall noted in proposing his famous plan to rebuild Europe half a century ago: ''It would be neither fitting nor efficacious for this government to undertake to draw up unilaterally a program designed to place Europe on its feet economically. This is the business of the Europeans.'' And so it will be for Africans now."

President Jammeh of Gambia

NEPAD Will Never Work - President Jammeh. J. T. Ibrahim Brown & Malick Mboob. The Daily Observer (Gambia) [Africa News Service, July 24, 2002.]

President Yahya Jammeh has said, as he presided over the Eighth anniversary of the July 22nd military takeover yesterday at the Arch 22 in Banjul, that the New African Partnership for Development (Nepad) would fail. He said he would never be associated with any programme set up for begging.

"If you come up with a programme for nothing but begging, I Yahya Jammeh will never kneel down before any man to beg," he said. President Jammeh said he was not criticising Nepad, but people who begged in the name of developing Africa. "Nobody will ever develop your country for you. What the African people want is the setting up of an African Development Trust Fund that would undertake the continent's development programmes.

"If you depend on Nepad, you will always kneel down to beg which I would never be a partner to.

"You can not build your house through begging and that we Africans should graduate from the school of beggary to the school of self-dependence." Africans, President Jammeh said, loved people outside the continent more than themselves and as a result, "that's why all the continent's resources being taken out". He said Africans must get rid of ignorance in order to undertake the development of the continent.

K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

Reducing Poverty in Africa Needs Good Leadership. Elly Wamari. Africa News Service, December 7, 2001.

Amoako underscored the importance of good political leadership at the highest level to the realisation of sustainable growth and poverty reduction on the continent, saying, "We at ECA see good governance as synonymous with the creation of a capable state, one based on accountable and transparent systems, political liberalisation, the rule of law and respect for human rights."

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda

Africa’s Low Industrial Transformation Due To Bad Leadership: Ugandan President, Xinhua News Agency, December 4, 2003.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that Africa’s slow industrial transformation from subsistence agriculture has been a result of bad leadership and failure to understand the decisive role of the private sector in building national economies.

President Festus Mogae of Botswana

Botswana President Says Peace, Security Key to Attracting Investment to Africa, Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, June 25, 2003.

"President Festus Mogae said that peace and security, along with the stable economic, political and social environment, are indispensable for creating conditions that will attract investment to Africa… He says Africans could not afford to fail to address the need for domestic, political, and economic reforms in the context of good governance."

Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Former OAU Secretary-General

Africa Faces Peace, Leadership and Governance Challenges. Africa News Service, July 2, 2002.

…Turning to the question of leadership in Africa, it is unfortunate that this is one subject that has often been addressed in the negative. A lot has been said about the uncomplimentary attributes of leadership, but very little effort has made to develop a profile of positive leadership that is required in facing the Continent's challenges. …Admittedly, the Continent is littered with failed institutions, mostly due to bad leadership. Devastating conflicts have been provoked and sustained by leadership factors. Indeed, sometime the narrow interests of a given leadership have determined the whole destiny of nations and societies. Over the years, we have seen how political parties, the military, the executive bureaucracy, and even International Financial Institutions have usurped, to the exclusion of everybody else, the leadership of some of our societies. Yet, such a critical factor has always been taken for granted and accepted fortuitously. …As we move in the new century and Africa faces up to its challenges, it is important that the leadership factor is given due attention. The role of leadership needs to be clearly understood, appropriate modalities of nurturing and appointing dynamic leadership have to be developed, and also critical is the need to foster accountability and transparency in the exercise of leadership functions. A major challenge is to transcend the notion of leadership being a personalised preoccupation to the building of a culture of leadership as being an institution.

Thulani S. Gcabashe, Chief Executive, Eskom Holdings Ltd, South Africa

The Future of Leadership in Africa. Thulani S. Gcabashe. MoneyWeb (Johannesburg), October 09, 2003.

Let me borrow from the thoughts of Nigerian journalist, Sunday Dare, who said that action by Africans on their own behalf is of vital importance. Their options for ending the circle of violence and economic exploitation are few but practicable. "Africa needs a new generation of leaders to define and pursue a dynamic political and economic agenda…." Our challenge is to systematically identify factors that make it possible for Africans to perform at the highest level. It is in response to this challenge that Eskom has taken the initiative to research and develop a school, an institution of African leadership. Phase one of our Leadership Development project have seen Eskom spending a lot of time and money researching, analysing, capturing and recording all the available principles and characteristics of leadership, with particular reference to Africa. The results from this research process were unveiled a couple of months ago. The findings of this research project will serve as a basis for launching a new breed of African leaders.

Enock Chikamba, Zambian High Commissioner to Kenya

Zambian Envoy Blames Africa's Woes On Bad Leadership, Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, July 7, 2003. (From Pan African News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire).

[Mr. Chikamba] said Africa's lack of employment capacities and economic stagnation should be blamed squarely on her leaders who put their interests first. "It is such selfishness by leaders of most African governments that has seen the allocation of public resources to non-performing economic sectors, that they use to siphon out public funds…" …He added that the emergence of democratic governments in some of the countries, was however, offering "renewed hope" for the continent. He therefore challenged intellectuals to help the continent rise up from the ashes by offering solutions to their country's problems instead of lying back and blaming others. "Our universities produce graduates each year who have been trained to provide solutions and who should take up their leadership role in society instead of waiting for others to open opportunities for them"