Selfless & Ruthless : A Word for Future African Heads of State

By Modupe Taylor-Pearce, Ph.D.

Since 1990, there have been over 250 different Heads of State in Africa.  Of this number, less than 5% of these heads of state have overseen periods of economic growth (measured in GDP per capita income or “PCI”) and human development growth (measured in human development index, or “HDI”) that has outpaced average global economic growth and average global human development index growth. This elite group of leaders includes Quett Masire and Festus Mogae of Botswana, Anerood Jugnauth of Mauritius, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and John Kuffuor of Ghana.  The implication of this is uncomfortable but unavoidable: the aggregate Presidential leadership performance record across the continent is poor. What are the reasons for this and how can future African heads of state avoid falling into the same trap or poor leadership performance as their predecessors?

It would be easy to point accusingly to the global financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, etc) and blame them for Africa’s plight; or to the rules based international order, which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney so famously and honestly informed the world at Davos is a system set up by Western countries for the benefit of Western countries at the expense of non Western countries. It would also not be incorrect to state that these institutions and systems are not helpful to African countries; many scholars have documented that the major achievement of aid to Africa has been to prevent Africans from dropping from poverty to extreme poverty; it has not achieved the stated goal of elimination of poverty. However the stubborn fact remains that there are countries in Africa (Mauritius, Botswana, Rwanda) that have improved their PCI and HDI during periods when they have been subject to the same global headwinds that other African countries have been facing. So what is different?   It would be more instructive to examine the few African leaders who have overseen economic and HDI growth in their countries under their leadership and examine what behaviors they had in common that led to the good fortunes of their countries under their leadership.  When one examines these leaders there are two qualities that they have in common that the others lacked: (1) public-purpose leadership and (2) high enforcement discipline. Put in more colloquial terms, these successful heads of state were/are selfless and ruthless.

 

Selflessness

Selflessness, or public purpose leadership, is the quality that makes a leader say no to her/his own needs and puts the needs of other people first. This is the same quality that empowers a leader to say no to engaging directly or indirectly in corrupt practices. Too many starry-eyed newly-sworn African heads of state make the mistake of accepting and retaining lavish gifts from a flurry of powerful and influential people (often presenting themselves as businessmen or investors) who present these gifts. It would be wise for any African head of state to remember that centuries ago, the slave trade was expanded and scaled up by white men who brought gifts to African chiefs and used the gifts to convince the chiefs to attack neighboring villages to sell them to the white men. Every gift over $1,000 given to a head of state comes with an invisible set of handcuffs. The giver does not need to tell you the price of the gift when they present it; you get to find that out later. Thomas Sankara, former Head of State of Burkina Faso, insisted that gifts presented to him belonged to the state and not to himself personally. By contrast, Valentine Strasser (former Head of State of Sierra Leone) accepted and retained his gifts and within eighteen months of his ascension to the Head of State position he became “captured” by the various givers who continued to lavish him with what he wanted and extended the giving to his family who then influenced him to make sub-optimal decisions. Selflessness is the quality that prevents corruption at the highest levels. There are too many of the Heads of State in Africa that have fallen victim to this vice. The list is seemingly endless. Headliners of the list of those who failed the selflessness test include Kenyatta (Kenya), Zuma (South Africa), Patasse (CAR), Abacha (Nigeria),  Biya (Cameroun), Bouteflika (Algeria), Nyusi (Mozambique), Campaore (Burkina Faso), Chiluba (Zambia), Conde (Guinea), Eyadema (Togo), Jammeh (the Gambia), Kabila (DRC), and Taylor (Liberia).

 

Ruthlessness

Ruthlessness, or high-enforcement discipline, is the quality that enables a leader to punish violators of the rules/law consistently and without regard for the closeness of the violator’s relationship to the leader or the wealth of the violator or the job position of the violator. This is a quality which presents a challenge to many African Heads of State because quite often, the violators of the laws are the people who helped the Head of State attain the position of Head of State. This creates a real dilemma; how do you enforce discipline and punish violations from someone to whom you owe so much, including the job that you currently have? How can you demonstrate such levels of disloyalty to your friend/son/mother/colleague to enforce the full force of the law on them just because they violated it? From Gbagbo to Banda, from Wade to Moi, many African heads of state have fallen into the trap of preserving and prioritizing relationships over enforcement discipline and valuing the loyalty of their friends and party-faithful over the benefit of enforcing the law consistently. Thomas Sankara made this mistake with Blaise Campaore and paid for it with his life. Joyce Banda of Malawi made the same mistake and paid for it with her legacy. While the list of selfless heads of state who failed at ruthlessness is not as long as the list of heads of state who failed the selflessness test, there are still some notables in this list. Akuffo-Addo (Ghana), Sall (Senegal), Essebsi (Tunisia), and Kabbah (Sierra Leone) headline this list of heads of state who were selfless but failed the ruthlessness test.

 

Closing Reflections

 In the next decade, 80% or more of the 55 African countries will experience a change in Head of State. This means that a decade from now, someone who today is not a head of state will become the head of state for the first time. That person could be you, and this article is written for you. There are many qualities you will draw upon to become the head of state; many promises you will make, many hands you will shake, many sponsors your party will accept donations from, and many hurdles you will climb. Whether you become the head of state via the ballot box or via any other means, it is likely that on day one of your reign, you will want to succeed. You will want your country to become a better and more prosperous country. You will want your people to be lifted out of poverty and into prosperity. If you do, then remember that while you are the head of state you must be selfless and ruthless. Anything less and you will be useless.

 

About the Author

Dr. Modupe Taylor-Pearce is an African scholar and practitioner of organizational development and leadership. He is a graduate of the US Military Academy, Cornell University and Capella University. He serves as the CEO of BCA Leadership, a pan African leadership enhancement and transformation organization dedicated to the positive transformation of Africa into a high income continent by 2040. BCA provides leadership coaching, training, organizational development consulting, and event management services to clients in all five regions of Africa.

To contact BCA Leadership, go to www.bcaleadership.com or email us, info@bcaleadership.com