It’s been said (though not here in Maputo) that people get the leaders they deserve. This is a point we could debate forever. Instead, I’d like to put this piece in the context of something Ndidi Nwuneli said during the leadership session: that there is a distinction between leaders and those who merely occupy positions of power and that in Africa, we use often seem to confuse the two. An excellent point that bears repeating, and often.

There was general consensus in the session that integrity is a prerequisite to leadership. This led to an interesting debate after the session among a group of young people. I was gently mocked as an absolutist for saying that integrity was something simple and straightforward that one either has or does not have. Others insisted that one can be endowed with greater of lesser amounts of integrity and still be a good leader. We argued to a stalemate and the debate rages on in our minds, I am sure.

This provides a convenient segue to the topic of corruption. In some African countries – not all, mind you – corruption is so pervasive that it is factored in as a cost of doing business. It is expensive to have the courage of your convictions, especially when it means leaving the field wide open for your competitors. Yet there are companies that refuse to do business if it means compromising their integrity. A difficult decision, yes. But not an impossible one.

The point of the leadership session as I understood it, though this was not made explicit, was that we can all be leaders in our particular spheres of influence, but only if we choose to take on the attendant responsiblities. And that it is possible to demand the leadership we believe we deserve.

This means not only political leadership, which gets most of the attention. There are also institutions that play a critical role in promoting economic growth in Africa. One of them, the African Development Bank, will soon be looking for a new leader. Will there be a process that is open and transparent, i.e. that anyone can follow to see how the final selection is made? Will merit trump other considerations, like making the choice politically palatable? Will there be backroom deals that have little to do with what the job requires and more to do with satisfying various constituencies? Will it be a race to the bottom where the final candidate is perhaps adequate but not ideal, and is seen as the least of all evils rather than the best man or woman for the job?

We can make our voices heard. We need leaders who will build on the good that was done before them, not ones who will insist on scrapping everything and starting from scratch, a tendency that is often indulged in Africa. If we abdicate our responsibility, as Africans and friends of Africa, to make our voices heard, then we do get the leadership we deserve.

Back to Maputo, a closing thought. I am a communications person and I traffic in perceptions and imagery. On the final day of the Summit, there was a session on Organized Business, i.e. trade associations. All the speakers, most of them representing the private sector, were upbeat in their assessments. Consumer and investor confidence are carefully watched; the consumer confidence index in the U.S. for example is a hotly anticipated economic indicator. It goes without saying that before one can even think of boosting confidence, fundamentals must be sound. Communications does play a role however. The late President Reagan, considered one of the great communicators, was able during the election in 1980 to make people look past bleak economic numbers and believe him when he pronounced it to be “morning in America”. Lo and behold, the economy soon took a turn for the better. In large part, a matter of good timing, but also an indication that confidence does matter. And when the final speaker of the session, Bheki Sibiya of the trade association Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) concluded his remarks by saying: “The mood in Africa is positive”, we believed him too.

Cheers.

Elizabeth Tsehai
E.T. Communications