IN Part One, we identified only three of some of the qualities which we should expect our political leaders to possess as a matter of course!
These are vision, a profound grasp of African history in the global context and a solid understanding of global politics.
Below are some of the qualities related directly or indirectly to the three mentioned above.
Our continent needs leaders whose outlook and activities express a strong sense of an African identity.
In a sense we are not looking for leaders who, the moment they leave Africa, are busy apologising, consciously or unconsciously, for being African, those leaders who, because of colonisation, lack confidence in themselves and their people, and are always in a hurry to explain us away and to distance themselves from us.
We need leaders who deep down believe in themselves and their people, leaders who always stand with and for Africa, no matter the circumstances, leaders who make us understood and respected by other races because they always symbolise in whatever they are doing, our values, beliefs, aspirations and ambitions regardless of wherever they are and whoever they are dealing with!
When that visionary African leader, Kwame Nkrumah spoke about the rise of the ‘African Personality’ he was also referring to African pride and dignity, an imperishable belief in the self because the African race has, across centuries, and notwithstanding much that has been negative, that which the West has done against us and implemented at our expense, worked hard to redeem itself against all odds!
The rise of Africa in the late 50s and 60s has been an epic struggle in all senses, something which is still to be fully understood and appreciated by all beneficiaries of that struggle against Western imperialism!
Belief in Africa and its people and their potential to develop is a prerequisite for anyone keen to become an African leader.
Why?
Because it addresses the deep sense of inferiority which other races from Europe have purposefully and over a long period, implanted in the hearts and minds of many, that is, those African generations unfortunate enough to live the colonial era bequeathed to them by the West.
We need leaders who are principled, who have a moral and intellectual backbone and are not pushovers, leaders who understand us and the world but from an African point of view, not opportunist political part-timers who dance to whatever tune would be doing the rounds!
Africa is desperate to get leaders whose promotion of the African agenda for development remains a guide wherever they are and whatever the weather is, be it in good times or bad times, leaders who are not intimidated by the magnitude of the challenges that we face!
A good example here is in order!
One can argue that President Mugabe is today an iconic African leader, always welcomed by multitudes in any part of Africa he visits!
Why one may ask?
Because when it looked as if Zimbabwe was too frail and too small to withstand the mighty British and American onslaught directed against it for daring to get back its land from Western thieves, it was Mugabe’s principled stand, his moral and intellectual backbone, his sustained focus on what mattered most, the land, which saved the day!
Where others doubted themselves and their potential to do anything for themselves, he remained resolute and focused, and won the land for his own people, hands down!
Many, far too many in Africa are still to withstand such pressures from global bullies and still live long enough to tell the tale as President Robert Mugabe has done!
Stamina or staying power, foresight, indomitable will power and clarity of vision about where Africa ought to go direction-wise have been the hallmarks of his leadership.
His consistent performance spanning generations explains why today the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has made him Chairman in 2014/15 and why soon, Africa will do the same-itself a belated and earned tribute to what he has done for Zimbabwe in particular and for Africa as a whole!
We need three, four or just five of such leaders in Africa in order to transform our continent into a powerful entity that has to be reckoned with at a geopolitical level!
Further we need leaders who have the insight to separate the proverbial chaff from grain, leaders who can discern the substance from the endless chattering going on in the so-called global village, leaders who do not confuse sponsored rhetoric from abroad and the realities and needs of our continent.
For example, far too many of us today have fallen for empty phrases like rule of law, good governance, human rights, transparency, democracy etc as defined and propagated by Western-sponsored non-governmental organisations (NGOs), forgetting that all African struggles for independence were exactly about all those things and, more importantly, they were about the ownership of everything above and below all our soils!
The pernicious NGO rhetoric has done far more damage to our psyche, to that of young generations who have been made to believe that all good ethics and sound practices, be they be about politics and or economics, have to come from the West, when in reality it is the West itself that has consistently and persistently denied Africa those very rights!
In the midst of all the Western-sponsored confusion, Africa needs leaders who cut through the diversionary rhetoric and define policies and devise programmes which are centred first and foremost on African needs and priorities!
Africa does not need leaders who define themselves and their programmes on the strength of borrowed Western rhetoric, leaders who hide their lack of originality and creativity by donning themselves in borrowed robes, leaders who try all the time to sound like Western leaders, both in style and substance, when in reality they can never be such!
Today there are too many of us who dream of becoming leaders, at any cost, people who have not yet done their homework, who do not even understand themselves and their continent, people whose ambitions and dreams are not matched by their abilities, and have not the slightest clue as to which direction to steer a country let alone a whole continent!
There are too many of us like that, too many who would mislead generations and create lasting damage to whole continent which can hardly afford to be led by inept, unprepared and or semi-literate characters always in a hurry to get rich quickly by all means necessary!
Africa deserves far better than that!