Failure of Leadership in

Africa
Chuka Ikele Esq.

March 2015
INTRODUCTION

Africa our dear continent is the second largest and the second most populous continent in
the world. The continent covers six percent of Earth's total surface area and 20.4 percent of
its total land area. With 1.1 billion people as of 2013, it accounts for about 15% of the world's
human population; it has fifty-four (54) fully recognized sovereign states ("countries"),
nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition1

In terms of resources, Africa is abundantly blessed being the richest continent in the world,
Africa has 50% of the world’s gold, diamond, 98% of the chromium, 90% of the platinum and
cobalt, 40% of the potential hydroelectric power, one-third of the uranium, 65% of the
manganese and millions of acres of untilled land, unquantifiable human resources and lots of
other resources.2

It is then appalling that in the midst of all these wealth that Africans live in abject poverty,
lack of access to quality healthcare, education and is regarded as a backward and
underdeveloped continent, according to the United Nations' Human Development Report in
2003, the bottom 25 ranked nations (151st to 175th) were all African.3

In 2006, 34 out of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed nations are in Africa, in
many countries GDP per capita is less than $5,200 per year with the vast majority of the
population living on much less.4

Quoting the World Bank Update on Poverty estimate for the developing world, “Although it
has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and
most underdeveloped continent, the result of a variety of causes that may include corrupt
governments that have often committed serious human rights violation, failed central
planning, high levels of illiteracy, lack of access to foreign capital, and frequent tribal and
military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide).5

Poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation, as well as poor
health, affect a large proportion of the people who reside in the African continent. In August
2008, the World Bank announced revised global poverty estimates based on a new
international poverty line of $1.25 per day (versus the previous measure of $1.00). 80.5% of

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Accessed 16 March 2015
2
Ibid
3
www.undp.org Accessed 21 March 2015
4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_In_Africa Accessed 16 March 2015
5
www.econ.worldbank.org Accessed 16 March 2015
the Sub-Saharan Africa population was living on less than $2.50 (PPP) a day in 2005,
compared with 85.7% for India6

Africa’s present predicament is pitiful, shameful and ought not to be, and in the words of
respected Nigerian writer, Late Professor Chinua Achebe “A man who lives on the banks of
the Niger (river) should not wash his hands in spittle.”

It is ironic that despite all these natural endowments which Africa possesses, Africa seems to
be the struggling continent, a place where all hope is lost, a place of constant worry, a war
ravaged and diseased place, a place in constant need of foreign aid, a continent at the mercy
of her sisters. In the course of trying to identify the reason for Africa’s misfortune, from the
factors of the Slave trade, Colonialism, Foreign interference, Racism, Disease, bio-
geographic factors, climate and recurrent armed conflict, I have come to the conclusion that
the lack of purposeful and honest leadership is the major reason for Africa’s woes, the
details of which this paper seeks to expatiate on further.

“No Man however great, is greater than his

people”………..Chinua Achebe

Leadership has been described as a process of social influence in which a person can enlist
the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.7

According to Sun Tzu, “Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness,

courage and discipline…Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of
humanness alone results in weakness. Fixation of trust results in folly. Dependence on the
strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and sternness in command result
in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one
can be a leader.”

Leadership is a topic which different individuals and schools of thought have different
definitions and ideas of, however there exist certain virtues which are common to all the
different definitions which include responsibility, accountability, selflessness, direction,
bravery, brilliance and discipline.

6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Accessed 16 March 2015
7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership Accessed 16 March 2015
A responsible leader is one who has the best interests of his people at heart, who would
ensure that resources are distributed, promotes the sovereignty of the law and most
importantly is answerable to and unites his people.

The African continent over the years has been unfortunately plagued with a myriad of
challenges which her leadership has not been able to manage and tackle successfully; in fact
the leadership is a huge contributory to the present challenges which the continent is facing.

Since the renewed sense of statehood which many African nations gained after obtaining
independence from their colonial masters, the opportunities were rife, it was a new
beginning and the sky was the limit, but instead of riding on the euphoria of the moment to
improve the quality of life in their countries, the leaders through their actions dwarfed the
growth of these economies and countries. African leaders failed to develop institutions that
would translate independence into popular democracy and liberty. They failed to
accommodate dissent and tap the energies of the people for economic and social
development.

Illegal wealth acquisition, corruption, violence, nepotism became the other of the day and
Africa is today facing the consequences for the wrong choices of our leaders over the years.

In my essay submitted to Intercontinental Bank Plc in 2010, I highlighted certain problems

which Nigeria was facing at 50 years of independence and most prominent was the failure of
leadership; and this problem is not restricted to Nigeria, it affects the whole of the
continent.

The Root of the problem

The lack of purposeful and exemplary leadership in Africa is as a result of certain factors
which would be examined further in this paper.

Inasmuch as there are high expectations from leaders generally, I always emphasize
especially as far as Africa is concerned that the leaders are a reflection of the people that
they lead. This lends some form of perspective to the source of the problem which I intend
to fully elucidate on
Typical African leadership is affected by the following problems:

 Corruption

Corruption although not exclusive to Africa is the major factor responsible for the woes and
under-development of the continent. An opportunity to serve in a leadership position in
Africa has been misinterpreted as an opportunity to enrich oneself and one’s family.

Public office holders are guilty of flagrant abuse of their office, misuse of power,
misappropriation of public funds.

Corruption undermines democratic ideals; it robs the people of good governance and
deprives them of the benefits of the social contract between the government and the
governed. Corruption ensures that resources are concentrated in the hands of few public
officials and their cronies, thereby depriving the ordinary citizen of basic and essential
amenities, this in turn leads to distrust by the people, widespread poverty and political/tribal
tensions.

The loss occasioned by corruption in African nations is unquantifiable; contracts for

infrastructural development are not awarded based on merit but by who has furnished
some sort of payment to the government officials.

The case in Africa is pathetic because the leadership compromise totally and do not consider
some aspects of governance sacrosanct and as a result of this, every sector suffers;
healthcare, education, infrastructure, economy, agriculture and security are greatly affected.

Corruption prevents the African child/youth from getting qualitative education which they of
all people require essentially, to be able to compete with their counterparts in other parts of
the world. Corruption deprives the general populace of primary healthcare, child/maternal
mortality rates are the highest in Africa, corruption deprives the populace of basic
infrastructure, good road networks are luxury, poor road network leads to accidents which
in turn could lead to loss of life. Corruption prevents qualified persons from holding
important government positions which lead to defective policy framework which affects the
economy, this in turn leads to lack of jobs; the effects of corruption in any country has far
reaching effects.

The leadership alone cannot be guilty as this hydra headed monster has eaten into virtually
all aspects of our life, what started as small scale bribery which affects nobody turns out to
be monumental theft of public resources. The people have gradually come to accept the fact
that corruption is a part of daily life and should only be screamed against it when it affects
them. Africa as a continent needs her people to be more responsible to themselves, to vote
upright leaders and ensure that these leaders are accountable for their actions.

Examples of very corrupt regimes include the government of Marshall Mobutu Sese Seko of
the Democratic Republic of Congo which he renamed Zaire and General Sani Abacha of
Nigeria; Mobutu was reported to have stolen over $5 billion, while Abacha was reported to
have stolen between $3-4 billion.

To further compound problems, most African leaders suffer from the sit-tight syndrome
whereby they employ all means necessary to ensure that they remain in office, mostly just to
continue the plundering of their countries resources. Most of these leaders end up being
autocratic and authoritarian and the ones with a functioning democratic system ensure that
the whole process is corrupted and rigged to ensure victory at such stage managed polls.

 Ethnic Rivalry/Tribalism

Since time immemorial, before the advent of the slave trade and colonialism, African
societies had existed through their different tribes and ethnic groups, these tribal groups
became the source of identity for every individual and after colonial powers divided the
continent into different states, each individual was firstly a member of his tribal group
before being a citizen of the state. Strong importance is placed on ones tribe and origins in
Africa.

This factor is related to corruption as the fact that every African is a member of a tribal
group and this should not prevent him/her from benefitting from the government.

In countries where ethnic rivalry existed, leaders were often not viewed as a representative
of the nation as a whole, but rather as members of a particular tribe. As a consequence of
this, ethnic, cultural and religious barriers were not harmonized through equitable and
impartial balance of interests

Corruption is related to tribal differences because when corruption is rife and resources are
distributed between friends and cronies of the corrupt leader, the general population is left
empty handed and as such it is often conceived that the beneficiaries of such arrangement
are the kith and kin of the leader, in such circumstance, the left out population would begin
to nurse ill-feelings towards the government and its cronies especially when they are in a
rival or different ethnic group. This in turn would lead to a tense and heated polity where
suspicion and paranoia are common place; such situation often leads to violent
confrontation and sometimes armed conflict.
Ethnic and tribal tensions were the major reason for the Rwandan genocide and civil war
where members of the Majority Hutu ethnic group took up arms against the Minority Tutsi
ethnic group and slaughtered a large number of them as a result of their agitation that the
Tutsi controlled everything including resources and government position. This conflict took
place between 1990 and 1994 and was responsible for the loss of 500,000 to 1,000,000
African lives.

Another example of armed conflict which was based on ethnic rivalry and fears of a single
tribe dominance of government is the Nigerian civil war which lasted from 1967 to 197o. In
1966 amidst large scale corruption, nepotism and high handedness of the new government,
a group of young military officers (mostly Majors) from the South eastern part of Nigeria
(Igbo tribe) masterminded a coup d’état which targeted member of government officials
who were of Hausa (Northern Nigeria) origins and Yoruba (South western Nigeria) origins,
these government officials were slaughtered and this sparked the beginning of ethnic rivalry
and tension in Nigeria which is still alive till this very day. Massive and calculated reprisal
killings were executed by Hausa Soldiers targeting Igbo soldiers and their civil population,
this culminated to Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu ( an Alumni of King’s College
Lagos & Oxford University) declaring the Sovereign state of Biafra which ultimately led to
the Nigerian Civil war where over 1 million lives were lost.

It should be noted that if a leader from a different ethnic group runs a corrupt free
government and is accountable to his people irrespective of their ethnic group, provides
purposeful leadership to all, and ensures that every citizen has access to basic amenities,
ethnic rivalry would not arise; this is because when there is equality in how citizens are
treated and how resources are distributed, it would ensure that there is little or no space for
suspicion, divisive tendencies and conflicts.

Africans and their leaders should not allow the gift of a rich cultural heritage to be a curse
and an impediment to growth and development in our societies.

 Religious differences

The misinterpretation of the various religions owing to lack of proper education and
orientation has led to religion being used a criteria to select leaders and as a factor which is
considered when delivering the fruits of governance to the people.

This factor which is closely related to tribal differences is responsible for the many reasons
why there is leadership failure in Africa, it is to note that Africans are very religious people
and hold strong spiritual views that often translate into how they carry out their day to day
activities. Religion in bringing salvation and meaning to life has also brought another divisive
factor, for example in Nigeria, religion is a factor that is always considered before electing an
individual into a leadership position, special cognizance is always taken of his origin and
religion, and persons from a different religion are often suspicious and critical of a leader
who is not of the same religion as them, this in turn affects the manner with which the
leader would administer his government and country.

The crisis in Sudan from which South Sudan broke off from has religious connotation, the
people of the predominantly Christian South felt they could not be protected by the
leadership who is from the predominantly Moslem North. There has also been crisis in the
Central African Republic and Nigeria where a city (Jos) suffered religious crisis in 2010.

African leaders are guilty of rewarding and providing special treatment and attention to
causes and ideas which have close affinity to theirs.

 Lack of Education

As a result of the manner in which many African leaders came into power (mostly through
coup d’états and military action) they did not possess proper education and leadership skills
and are such were ill prepared for the onerous task of leading developing and complex
countries. Most leaders employed the military skills which they garnered in military school or
in the battlefield in administering the government and the population; this had adverse
effects on the economy and caused stagnant growth and development.

Asides the lack of proper education, many leaders have frequently come to leadership
positions with limited experience and have succeeded in making wrong decisions with far
reaching effects on the people and the continent in general.

 Poverty

The problem of corruption and of the expectation of the members of the ethnic group and
the extended family are also seen as tied to the problems of poverty and the role of a leader
as a provider.

The massive corruption and kleptomaniac tendencies of the ruling class can be traced to the
abject poverty which the continent has had to contend with one way or the other. It is not
new that Africa is the poorest continent and any venture which is seen as financially
rewarding is always exploited.

This is the reason why most aspirants to political office or leadership positions only do so for
the power firstly, financial benefits and privileges which are attached to that office. This
unpopular reason for aspiring to public office is the reason why the electoral processes in
most countries are weak and unreliable, this is to pave way for the highest spender who
when in office plunders the national treasury to meet up commitments or satisfy interests of
benefactors.

Poverty is a factor which is common to growing up and living in Africa and forms one of the
major problems plaguing leadership since public office holders often do not have enough of
their own to give; the temptation to misappropriate public wealth is irresistible. The same
problems of poverty also affect the fair distribution of national wealth and resources.

 Neo-colonial influence and interference

The term neocolonialism which was coined by late Ghanaian Statesman Dr Kwame Nkrumah
which he defined as the geopolitical practice of using capitalism, business globalization, and
cultural imperialism to influence a country in lieu of either direct military control or indirect
political control i.e. imperialism or hegemony. The continued interference by foreign powers
has played a huge role in ensuring that most African leaders are mostly figureheads or
puppets.

It has now become increasingly evident that colonial masters in Africa skillfully surrendered
political power while maintaining economic control. Africa therefore became politically
independent while still economically in bondage. Even with the newly acquired political
independence, African leaders assumed their role with a false start.

For example in Burkina Faso, where the foreign powers were not impressed with the
progress which Thomas Sankara seemed to be making in developing his country by building
schools, encouraging agriculture, cutting government spending. Instead they organized with
certain young military officers to stage a coup d’état fighting corruption, which ensured that
he was murdered and replaced by Blaise Compaore who was recently hounded out of office
by the people he was supposed to be leading after 27 years of failed leadership.

Investigations have shown that foreign governments, multinational corporations and

international financial institutions have at one time or the other been responsible for various
coup d’états in Africa, these foreign governments also attach ridiculous conditions to grant
of aid and encourage African leaders to obtain loans which would not be favourable to their
economies.

Multinational corporations are guilty of investments which can best be regarded as Greek
gifts as a result of the conditions and after effects of enriching a few and causing greater
damage, the receiving under-developed country is now dependent on foreign markets and is
unable to develop its own economy, as a result of the huge payouts and concessions which
have been made and agreed to.

Intervention by international financial institutions and their expert advisers are usually at a
cost of assuming control over the management of African economies, these control renders
leadership ineffective and incapable of meeting the expectations of the people.

 Lack of political will

Equally relevant and important is the absence of political will. A political will is the
compelling force for sound leadership quality, the ability to do what is right, what is relevant
and what is attainable within the context of patriotic nationalism. Political will very often
means personal or group sacrifices. It implies the ability to implement policies that have a
nationalistic important and relevant without allowing pockets of interest to detract from
what should naturally be of national benefit. 8

Based on what the meaning of political will is, it can be said that save for a few visionary
leaders which Africa has been blessed with, the rest have ruled without political will of any
sort. It is common sight in Africa to see a leader who is more interested in how much can be
misappropriated rather than leaving a long lasting or better still an eternal legacy. It is most
appalling that these so called leaders have no form of communication with the people they
are supposed to be leading; they equally have no ideas as to ways to improve the standard
of living of their people.

African leaders have over the years displayed a perpetual attitude of contempt and
disregard for the people they lead, even as they claim to govern in the name of the masses.
This is not the case in other developing and developed countries of the world, where leaders
of all types – political, social, economic, educational and religious - know that they are in the
public eye and are subjected to a 24 hours vigilant scrutiny. They are also held accountable
for every decision made while in government.

In those communities, a leader is seen as a servant of the people, and he who serves best is
loved most. The public becomes the guardian of the society and of the leaders themselves.
In Africa, it was observed, servants often abuse the public they serve; even a bus driver

8
Challenge of Leadership in African Development Publication of the African Leadership Forum (1988)
bullies the passengers. The African public often tolerates this abuse for too long and tends
to explode against bad leaders when it is too late.

Closely linked with the problem of abuse of the public by contemptuous leaders is the
disrespect for human dignity. It was argued that the age of slavery followed by colonialism
had left deep scars in the African sense of worth and human dignity. The era of
independence in Africa coincided with the period of the Cold War and ideological rivalries
and conflicts between East and West. These new powers found Africa a convenient
battlefield for their cold war. African leaders on their part were ill-prepared to handle this
new colonial onslaught and were consequently manipulated by those foreign powers. This
new assault on the continent has taken a heavy toll on lives and ushered in more chaos than
order in all walks of life.9

Remedies

 Fighting Corruption in its entirety

Corruption should be fought aggressively and entirely for any other remedial measure to
have effects in Africa; this is because with corruption in place nothing can work. Awareness
should be drawn to the dangers of tolerating corrupt tendencies of any form; stiff penalties
should be passed in the national laws of African states. It should be noted when there is
eradication of corrupt tendencies and elements from the government, there would be equal
distribution of resources and all sectors of the economy would receive the attention it
deserves, this in turn would guarantee steady growth and development.

 Proper Education

The need for education in Africa cannot be emphasized. Education has often been regarded
as the key to power; proper education would go a long way in ensuring that Africa’s lost
glory is restored.

When education is made top priority among every African irrespective of their ethnic origin,
religion, gender or sexual orientation, the continent would be the better for us. Efforts
should be made to improve on the already existing educational facilities; special attention
should be paid to the youth as they represent the leaders of tomorrow.

9
ibid
Furthermore the development of an educational system whose context and objectives
reflect African realities and aspirations should be undertaken. The African youth should be
educated to be able to aspire to the highest prospects available on this planet, and if
properly educated, it is my firm belief that the sky is the starting point. An enlightened
society is a protected society

 Responsible Leadership

There should be massive re-orientation courses to change the psychological foundations

that Africans have as far as leadership is concerned. The concept of leadership is to be re-
introduced and emphasized on. Owing to the years of awful and unpleasant leadership,
Africans have grown to accept any form of leadership as normal leadership and this ideology
needs to be corrected.

Africans must therefore be alerted and made aware of such leadership failure in order to be
prepared to check them. The need for Africans to build on their cultural values and the
reassess the form of leadership they deserve.

Africans need to be taught on the need to hold their leaders accountable for their actions.
Periodic reports on leaders and the extent to which they live up to postulated goals in their
performance might be a way of making them accountable, this can be done through Non-
governmental organizations who would provide independent reports concerning the
performance index of the leader involved.

The African people through their representatives in government owe it to themselves to

demand for certain forms of protection which include Protection and promotion of human
dignity, protection of the rule of law, protection of human rights. It has been argued that
unless Africans know their rights, the abuse of power by their leaders would not be easy to
check and remedy.

African leaders on the other hand are enjoined to

1. Formulate policies that are committed to development, national welfare, and a fair
distribution of resources.
2. Facilitate a form of political and strategic training which could take the form of
discussion fora for exchange of views and experiences among leaders with the
participation of knowledgeable and respected resource people.
 3. Fostering a leadership endowed with the attributes of courage and self-confidence,
combined with tolerance, honesty and humility
4. Rise above ethnic and religious differences and attend to the needs of the every
citizen and furthermore be seen to represent the entire spectrum of the polity.
5. Embrace sensitization programs as to the moral imperatives of leadership, and
fostering the values of respect for the will of the people and their human dignity
6. To be more self-assertive and confident when in pursuit of Africa’s interests in the
international community.

 Strengthening Democratic Ideals and the Electoral Process

The present leaders have a duty to the future leaders and unborn generations to entrench
democratic ideals and sanitize the electoral process of their various states.

An independent electoral system is one that is devoid of interference from any political
groups, one which is free from corruption, favoritism of any kind, a process that does not
compromise the type of leaders it produces. An independent electoral system would
provide a legitimate government and it ensures that political power resides with the people
such that in the event of poor leadership, the people can exercise their rights to choose their
leaders by replacing such poor leadership.

An independent and non-partisan electoral process ensures that the people are the primary
beneficiaries of any political contest; this in turn ensures that the political system continues
to mature.

In elaborating the need for democracy, General Olusegun Obasanjo explained that “the
point at issue is not the forms of democracy, but the context of democracy; to ensure that
one tribe is not privileged over another; that one region is not developed at the expense of
the other; and that the classes do not lord it over the masses – that is the challenge. Once
the state is seen to be truly above partisan interests and even-handed in its dealings
between the competing interest groups, we would have begun the process of endowing our
political institutions with the necessary legitimacy, which is their ultimate safeguard against
violent overthrow.”10

The task of re-inventing leadership and what it stands for in Nigeria is an onerous task and
cannot be shouldered by one or a few organizations, it should be a collective effort which

10
Keynote Address at conference of The Leadership Forum, Nairobi, Kenya: March 10-12, 2003
should be carried out with the assistance of the government of these African states. Private
organizations, civil society groups, international organizations, interest groups who have the
best interest of Africa as a priority are enjoined to formulate programs where leadership
stands as the focal point.

These groups would be saddled with the task of providing the necessary exposure and tools
for these future leaders to be able to meet the challenges that they will inevitably face.

These groups in grooming future leadership in Africa can also serve as a form of watchdog
for present leadership, provide advisory services for governments, make recommendations
and also encourage motivation.

This new task is essential considering the level of preparedness of the youths (leaders of
tomorrow) who are clearly not bothered by anything other than the pursuit of their
professional careers.

African youths are devoted to pursuing other interests and are not being nurtured to take
over leadership. They are largely uninterested in acquiring comprehensive knowledge of
their own countries and their region how much more the cultures of other peoples. They
also lack the zeal to learn about and understand the actions taken by their present leaders
and the reasons for such actions.

Most young potential leaders have focused primarily on single issues, lacking motivation to
look at wider, critical regional and world challenges.

There are no platforms for comprehensive studying, knowledge and idea sharing
experiences with other young persons within and outside their countries, region, and field
of concentration.

This problem is however not helped by the dearth of private institutions in Africa that are
devoted to preparing potential leaders with that essential global outlook, which will enable
them to cooperate within and across national, regional, and institutional boundaries.

Furthermore, it has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, in many African countries
to gain access to relevant and timely information on most national, regional, and global
issues.

The efforts of Dr Mohamed Ibrahim for initiating the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in
African Leadership in 2007 are laudable and deserve applause. The prize recognizes and
celebrates African leaders who have developed their countries and have provided exemplary
leadership by being exceptional role models themselves. This is a conscious effort by an
African to ensure that the continent enjoys the blessings of outstanding and exemplary
leadership.

This award offers a $5 million initial payment and a $200,000 annual payment for life to
African heads of state who deliver security, health, education and economic development of
their constituents and also democratically transfer power to their successors11. So far only 4
leaders have been awarded; Nelson Mandela was however awarded honourarily in 2011.

Another effort worthy of applause is the effort of the Obafemi Awolowo foundation in
creating the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership prize in 2011 to encourage good leadership in
Nigeria and around Africa

In Conclusion, with the growth and expansion of economies around the world, technological
breakthroughs have brought about industrial revolutions and countries all over the world
are keying in with the aim of improving the lives of their citizens, Africa cannot afford to
continue to sit by the sidelines and must join this moving train. This leap can be made
possible and sustainable when the solutions proffered above are taken into consideration.

It is quite clear therefore that Africa cannot afford to continue its journey with ill-prepared
and unassisted leaders and going forward, those on whom the burden of leadership will fall
in future must fully comprehend the nature of their responsibilities, duties, and obligations.

Africa needs to have a rethink into what it is to be truly African, re-orientation and deep
reflection is necessary to form a rekindled African spirit.

Food for thought:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good
men to do nothing”………….Edmund Burke
(Excerpt of the Speech delivered by President John F. Kennedy while addressing the Canadian
Parliament in 1961)

11
www.moibrahimfoundation.org