The Roots of Africa’S LEADERSHIP DEFICIT
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The Roots of africa’s LEADERSHIP DEFICIT Robert Mugabe’s misrule in Zimbabwe is a particularly grotesque chapter of an old, old story: after by Robert I. Rotberg a promising start, an African leader descends into brutal tyranny. Why do so many African leaders go so terribly wrong? And will a new generation of African follow Mandela’s model instead? Leadership in Africa is typified more by disfiguring examples— control, or does Africa respond less favorably to a leadership the Idi Amins and Robert Mugabes—than by positive role mod- challenge of the same order as every other region’s? els such as Nelson Mandela and Seretse Khama. Other clusters The positive examples of African leadership stand out of developing nations, such as Southeast Asia or Latin because of their clear-minded strength of character, their adher- America, exhibit wide variations in leadership quality, but none ence to participatory democratic principles, and their rarity. In is so extreme in its range. During the past three decades rough- contrast, the negative examples include so many varieties— ly 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s leaders have behaved predatory kleptocrats; autocrats, whether democratically elected despotically, governed poorly, eliminated their people’s human or militarily installed; simple-minded looters; economic illiter- and civil rights, initiated or exacerbated existing civil conflicts, ates; and puffed-up posturers—that caricaturing or merely decelerated per capita economic growth, and proved corrupt. dismissing them would mislead. These single-minded, often Why should sub-Saharan Africa show such an extensive narcissistic leaders are many and share common characteristics: disparity between the many nation-states that have been and they are focused on power itself, not on the uses of power for are poorly led and those few that consistently have been led good; they are indifferent to the well-being of their citizens but well? Are the distinctions particularly African? Are they a prod- anxious to receive their adulation; they are frequently destructive uct of colonial misrule? Do they reflect a common problem of to and within their own countries, home regions excepted; transition from dependency to independence? Do they unreachable by reason, they are quick to exploit social or racial emanate from deep-rooted poverty and a lack of economic ideologies for political and personal purposes; and they are par- CENTER FOR PUBLIC LEADERSHIP growth? Is sub-Saharan Africa’s lamentable leadership record, tial to scapegoating, blame-shifting, and hypocrisy. 28 in other words, attributable to exogenous variables beyond its Good leaders globally, not only in sub-Saharan Africa, guide / CORBIS Mugabe © Reuters New Meddia Inc. Photos: Mandela © David Turnley If Botswana’s Khama had arrogated more and more power to himself, “for the good of his people,” there would have been few critics. governments of nation-states to perform effectively for their citizens. before diamonds were discovered, the dirt-poor, long-neglected They deliver high security for the state and the person; a functioning desert protectorate demonstrated an affinity for participation, rule of law; education; health; and a framework conducive to eco- integrity, tolerance of difference and dissent, entrepreneurial initia- nomic growth. They ensure effective arteries of commerce and tive, and the rule of law. The relative linguistic homogeneity of enshrine personal and human freedoms. They empower civil socie- Botswana may have helped (but compare Somalia, where everyone ty and protect the environmental commons. Crucially, good leaders speaks Somali, is Muslim, and there are clans but no separate ethnic also provide their citizens with a sense of belonging to a national groups). So would the tradition of chieftainship and the chiefly enterprise of which everyone can be proud. They knit rather than search for consensus after discussion among a kgotla, or assembly of unravel their nations and seek to be remembered for how they have elders. The century-old, deeply ingrained teachings of the congrega- bettered the real lives of the ruled rather than the fortunes of the few. tional London Missionary Society mattered, too, and infected the Less benevolent, even malevolent, leaders deliver far less by way country’s dominant political culture. Botswana stands out in sub- of performance. Under their stewardship, roads fall into disrepair, Saharan Africa as the foremost country (along with Mauritius and currencies depreciate and real prices inflate, health services weak- South Africa) to have remained democratic in form and spirit con- en, life expectancies slump, people go hungry, schooling standards tinuously since its independence (in 1966). Throughout the inter- fall, civil society becomes more beleaguered, the quest for personal vening years it has conspicuously adhered strictly to the rule of law, and national prosperity slows, crime rates accelerate, and overall punctiliously observed human rights and civil liberties, and vigor- security becomes more tenuous. Corruption grows. Funds flow out ously attempted to enable its citizens to better their social and eco- of the country into hidden bank accounts. Discrimination against nomic standings. A numerically small population (1.6 million) minorities (and occasionally majorities) becomes prevalent. Civil doubtless contributes to Botswana’s relative success, and exploiting wars begin. the world’s richest gem diamond lodes—since 1975—has hardly It is easy in theory and in practice to distinguish among good, made achieving strong results more difficult. But Angola, Gabon, less-good, bad, and despicable leaders everywhere, especially in sub- and Nigeria all have abundant petroleum, without the same striking Saharan Africa. Good leaders improve the lives of their followers and returns for their peoples. make those followers proud of being a part of a new Camelot. Good Any examination of Botswana, especially before 1975, shows the leaders produce results, whether in terms of enhanced standards of value of well-intentioned, clear-eyed visionary leadership. Seretse living, basic development indicators, abundant new sources of per- Khama, heir to the paramount chieftaincy of the country’s most sonal opportunity, enriched schooling, skilled medical care, freedom important and largest ethnic polity, completed his bachelor’s degree from crime, or strengthened infrastructures. Bad and despicable at Fort Hare College in South Africa in 1944, spent a year reading leaders tear down the social and economic fabric of the lands; they law at Balliol College, University of Oxford, and then studied for the immiserate their increasingly downtrodden citizens. Despicable bar at the Inner Temple in London. In 1948, he married Ruth rulers, particularly, oppress their own fellow nationals, depriving Williams, a Briton, and returned home to take up his chieftainship. them of liberty, prosperity, and happiness. But the British colonial authorities prevented him from exercising Poverty within the context of resource abundance, as in oil-rich the rights of paramountcy, and he and Ruth were exiled to Britain in Nigeria from 1975 to 1999, indicates inadequate leadership. 1951. Five years later, they were allowed to return, officially as com- Despicable leadership is exemplified by Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, a rich moners. country reduced to the edge of starvation, penury, and fear. Khama came from a family of Bamangwato chiefs who were well Economic growth from a low base in the aftermath of civil war and regarded for their benevolence and integrity. His studies and his in a context of human resource scarcity, as in contemporary marriage may conceivably have reinforced those family traits. Being Mozambique, signals effective leadership. The opening of a long- exiled might have embittered him, but Khama seems instead to have repressed society, with attention to education and a removal of barri- viewed exile as a mere bump along the road to leadership within the ers to economic entrepreneurship, as in post-dictatorship Kenya, is evolving context of Botswana’s maturity from protectorate to nation. another sign of progressive leadership. Whatever the combination of nature and nurture, when Khama Botswana is the paragon of leadership excellence in Africa. Long (later Sir Seretse Khama) founded the Botswana Democratic Party COMPV SS 29 (BDP) in 1961 and led his country to independence, he already minister until 1976), he understood that the island nation’s held dear those values of deliberative democracy and market mélange of colors and peoples—a plurality of Tamil-speaking economic performance that proved a recipe for his young Hindu Indians, Urdu- and Hindi-speaking Muslims from India country’s political, social, and economic success. Modest, and Pakistan, Chinese, and indigenous Creole-speaking Franco- without obvious narcissism, non-ostentatious as a chief and Mauritians, most of whom were descended from slaves—could leader (unlike so many of his African contemporaries), and not long survive in peace if he or others were anything but trans- conscious of achieving a national, enduring legacy, Sir Seretse parently democratic. He stressed open politics, nurtured social was able to forge a political culture for the emergent capital, welcomed a free press, and strengthened the rule of law Botswana—a system of values governing the conduct of polit- inherited from Britain, and earlier from France. Sir ical affairs—that has endured during the peaceful and Seewoosagur also sensed that