Africa Rising.... Clearly, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya is emerging as the star African Leader of this generation. Without sounding unpatriotic, I envy Kenya. Each time I see him on the World stage, I am ecstatic even before listening to him. His confidence level is as infectious as the compelling clarity of his thoughts. In this age and time when we are lost as to the vision of the leaders of later day Africa, this is something to cheer about indeed. A man to celebrate. With the admirable economic growth being witnessed around the continent, the unusual growth in GDPS, the emerging market mentions around the continent following the near saturation of the BRIC nations as priority investment destinations, I think there is a lot to cheer in a leader who speaks the language of modern governance and appreciates what drives development, in every inflection of his. A leader who does not look intimidated in the presence of a Barrack Obama or any world leader for that matter! Afterall for, him, maybe if Obama had returned to Kenya he would at best be one mulato probably running a nightclub or into some other showbiz enterprise. On a more serious note, I think confidence is key to winning the respect of development partners because it conveys the right message of capacity. This capacity does not have to be inborn. It can be developed even while in office. Our leaders must learn continuos self improvement even while in office. I shudder to imagine the response if one of Our leading political lights was asked which book he is currently reading. Uhuru not only clearly told Richard Quest of CNN in an interview, From Third World to First by Lee Kwan Yuen, a book I am sure every student of modern Political Economy must either have read or at least must have heard quoted or at the very worst seen on display in some Airport Terminal somewhere in the world. He effortlessly discussed and highlighted key issues of importance in the book. That cannot be show! And to cap it he said he has read it or is reading it for the third time! Dont get me wrong. That is certainly is not the only good book on development to read. I am only saying that for a Prime Minister of an African country of this generation, that is commendable. I am also not sure looking and listening to most of them discussing governance policies, they look as inspiring as he does. And the difference may just be his commitment to continuos improvement of self through reading. I am conscious also of his not too ordinary background. But I cant seem to see the whereabouts of most African Leaders offsprings around too. Same goes for most of us at the lower rungs of leadership. We need to reinvent and reposition for the task at hand. And even more the task ahead. We cannot drive our people towards a vision of a future that seems vague to ourselves. At best hazy and speculative. The first generation African leaders were to a large extent some of the leading educated elites of their generation. That made the whole difference. The vision they had was propelled by what they knew and could envision ahead not by speculation. The joke about hiding anything from an African in a book must become a thing of the past. Not a retrogression from the progress of the past years. This is especially so for aspiring African leaders at all levels. We must raise the bar of representation.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 21:48:58 +0000
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