Africa is the richest continent in terms of mineral resources yet it inhabits the poorest set of people on the face of the earth. Certainly, you want to ask why? The monster in Africa has made the continent unavailing. The influence is so prevailing that it has disguised itself as democracy and majority of Africans have been consumed by this monster.
It has taken over our character and we have become a shadow of ourselves.
Currently, with 47 countries and 6 islands, no African country ranks among the first 50 countries in the Human Development Index as included in a United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report released on 24 July 2014, out of 167 ranked countries in the world [1].
Let us take a trip to Singapore. The socio – economic metamorphosis that occurred while Lee Kuan Yew was its prime minister were not accidental, they were deliberate and pragmatic.
Singapore, which is a country that was expelled (gained independence) from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965[2] is now the ninth in the Human Development Index as included in a United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report released on 24 July 2014, which makes it one of the richest countries in the world [1]. Doing what was right, taking no nonsense and not following one particular ideology were some of the traits of the leadership style of Lee Kuan Yew. Taking a cue from Lee Kuan Yew means that a leader owes more allegiance to his conscience than his political party.
There is need for us to understand the fact that leadership has gone beyond trying to take control of a region and building a kingdom for oneself, thereby taking the people back into the pre-colonial era and ice-age. Leadership today is about taking the people into the future. The ability of a leader to think into the future and take mankind along with him as he realizes his or her dreams and visions, defines an insightful leader.
Leadership has gone beyond trying
to take control of a region and
building a kingdom for oneself
thereby taking the people back into
the pre-colonial era and ice-age.
Leadership today is about taking
the people into the future.
In simple terms, it is
Bringing the
23rd century into
Now let us consider the monarchy system of leadership: The success of a king is determined by the prosperity of the people in his kingdom during his reign as a king; on the other hand, the failure of a king is also determined by the anguish and poverty the people in his kingdom experienced when he was the king.
The present-day leaders can take a cue from this and it is as simple as “how many people’s dreams were fulfilled while you were in charge” instead of “how many people came begging at your doorstep for their daily bread while you were in charge”.
Corruption is a “monster” that can consume a whole nation, continent and even the world if it is not destroyed while it is still immature; It grows in the mind of the people, takes over their thinking and guides their decision-making process. This monster is invisible but its manifestations are so glaring; these manifestations snowball into socio-economic catastrophe that might be difficult to deal with. Corruption which is a disease of the mind can still be a thing of the past in the continent of Africa if we all rise up to the challenge.
This book has analyzed certain measures that can be put in place in order to deal with this ugly and destructive monster in Africa because, we, the people make up the continent and not vice versa.