Letters

THIS MONTH’S PRIZE LETTER

The Kenya elections When will the AU show leadership? Since its inception in May 1963, the OAU and its successor, the present-day AU, has not demonstrated any meaningful leadership nor solved a single crisis in Africa. African leaders are known more as dictators than as true leaders seeking to better Africa. Part of the problem of the absence of leadership within the AU is not understanding the concept of ‘servant leadership’. Robert Greenleaf explains “the great leader is first experienced as a servant to others”, and that this simple fact is central to the leader’s greatness. According to Greenleaf, “a servant leader is one who is a servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve others first, and to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. “The servant-leader isn’t only a good speaker; he is also a good listener as he needs to hear the people’s views and feel their pulse to determine the direction of the nation or organisation towards realisation of its goals.” Another primary reason why many African leaders fail to improve the state of their nations and their peoples is a lack of empathy, because “they live outside the people’s world”. It is very sad that these failures are evident within the AU. It is little wonder that Africa is suffering. The AU leaders lack commitment to serving the greater consensual interest, to sharing power in decision-making, and encouraging ownership through the participation of African civil society. They fail to recognise civil society has an important role to play in the achievement of democracy in Africa through, for instance, educating the public in the importance of democracy, fair elections, and good governance whose key components include accountability, legitimacy, democracy, equality, inclusiveness, transparency and rule of law.

The opening session of the African Union at its headquarters in Addis Ababa. But is it anything more than an expensive talking-shop?

African leaders accepted or inherited democracy from colonial masters without understanding the concept behind it. In essence, democracy, as applied in Africa, is tantamount to a ‘copy and paste’ of western democracy, lacking sensitivity to intrinsic domestic sociological beliefs, values and processes. As a result, these artificial applications of democracy remain vulnerable to the instinctive impulse of tribalism. Ultimately, the absence of a thorough and systemic blending of fundamental African cultural elements into exercises in democracy in African countries will bear substantial collateral cost to Africa, especially through the highly-emotional election processes. Democracy in Africa is not an overnight event; but a process which requires time. The lack of leadership within the AU has cost the many electors in Kenya their lives during the past days. Meanwhile, the AU has been slow to take the lead through established mechanisms to resolve the Kenyan elections dispute. Only after the daunting reality of several hundred deaths in only a few days were envoys,

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including the current AU chair and president of Ghana, John Kufuor, dispatched to the region. Kenya’s election is a litmus test of peer-accountability and other vaunted mechanisms. Actions and results here bear substantial implications for upcoming elections in Zimbabwe, Angola, South Sudan and other African States. What should be done regarding Kenya’s election? The first step is that the AU should resolve disputes over the election result through the Disputes and Complaints Committee. The results must be reviewed, with all options put on the table including a recount to satisfy stakeholders’ confidence in the AU. Finally, the AU must seriously assess the legitimacy of Mwai Kibaki’s claim to the presidency vis-àà-vis mounting evidence indicating otherwise. The fact Kibaki had himself sworn in almost immediately after the results were announced is dubious at best. Against a highly-charged background of electoral impropriety, the Kenya Election Commission (KEC) also falls into question for not allowing the statutory two weeks for complaints and disputes to be filed to insure fairness. Justin Laku ottawa, Canada.

African Banker Awards Why US, not Africa? Icould not stop musing on the so-called crèème de la crèème of African banking that gathered in the US to be showered with praise and awards (African Business, December 2007 issue) and wondering whether they ever consider the problems confronting Africa – the wars, corruption, human rights violations, poor security and ramshackle infrastructure. And, if the African Footballer of the Year and the Kora Awards for African Music, to name but two, can be judged and awarded in Africa, why were the African Banker Awards held in Washington DC instead of Harare, Tshwane, Accra or another African city? Africa has some of the best conference centres in the world – why deprive them of the income that was splashed out hosting the event in Washington DC? If it is just a question of funding, I am sure the banks of Africa can afford to sponsor the Awards ceremony. Why fly all of these people to Washington? Even government ministers were there, all at the expense of the African taxpayer. I am of the opinion that the African Bank

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African Business | February 2008