FORMER African leaders may soon wade
into the current leadership crisis in Cote d’Ivoire. The cause is being
championed by erstwhile President of South Africa, Mr. Thabo Mbeki.
The move was disclosed yesterday in Abuja by former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon, who warned that efforts by Africa to meet the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, would remain elusive if the region’s leaders fail to pay serious attention to the issue of good governance and accountable leadership.
Gowon, who urged African leaders to be more committed to serving the people, listed the basic elements of good governance as honesty, transparency, integrity and community-mindedness, adding that these “strong values should be embedded in the culture of leadership of the people of Africa.”
The United States, which met with Nigeria and leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the future of Cote d’ Ivoire has played down on the use of the military to force Laurent Gbagbo to handover power to Alassane Ouattara.
A statement from the White House late on Wednesday, said an ECOWAS delegation led by the President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma, which included Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia and Ambassador to the U.S., Prof. Ade Adefuye met with the National Security Adviser to American President, Mr. Tom Donilon at the White House over the election crisis in Cote d’Ivoire.
According to the statement released by the White House Press Secretary’s Office, the ECOWAS delegation and Donilon “discussed the importance of maintaining international unity on this point, as previously endorsed by the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, and the UN Security Council,” adding that both Donilon, a top Obama aide and the ECOWAS delegation “agreed to continue our close coordination going forward.”
At the 8th Daily Trust Dialogue, with the theme: ‘The challenges of good governance in Africa,” Gowon noted that Africa has the resources to attain global prominence and urged its leaders to look inward to find the strength for the revival of the continent.
He stated that leadership and followership in the region are not as high or as lofty as expected, adding that the continent can truly forge ahead when both the leadership and followership were aligned on the issue of socio-economic development.
Gowon said: “When leaders are motivated by selfless service, and they have the fear of God, when followership cultivate the culture of holding leaders accountable and are not driven by concern of getting their share of the proverbial national cake,” the region will come out of the woods.
He therefore urged African leaders to be more circumspect in the way they handle various differences either within a nation or between nations, insisting that the solution to the region’s problem lies within Africans.
Gowon, who expressed concern over the political development in Tunisia and Egypt, warned that the scenario might play out in most African countries this year if their leaders fail to meet the people’s expectations.
He disclosed that Mbeki had written a letter to all former heads of state to support his negotiation with Gbagbo and Ouattara to end the leadership crisis in their country.
Gowon said African leaders sit tight in office due to the prevalence of corruption caused by easy access to public funds and opportunities to make money that power avails them, adding that a corrupt leader would stop at nothing to protect his loot.
He noted that the dialogue should not be taken at face value as it is tempting to jump into conclusion that the culture of good governance is alien to Africa, given what a lot of people consider to be the quirk of leadership on the continent.
“Howsoever we choose to look at it; good governance is not the exclusive preserve of any race neither is bad leadership inherent in a certain class or group of people.”
According to him, the toppling of leadership happens sometimes because of mere disagreements in the inner chambers of power or a smart idealistic young officer, non- commissioned officer thinks that he can do better and not because of the need to serve the people.
He said: “The good news however that is the frequency of coup d’etat and in most cases, the attendant lack of development and growth in the polity have awakened the citizenry to the need to protect democracy. Whilst we may not have found all the right solutions, there is no denying that we are making progress.”
The White House statement expressed the U.S. government “strong support for the efforts of ECOWAS to facilitate a peaceful transition of power in Cote D’Ivoire. Donilon and the ECOWAS delegation reaffirmed their shared commitment to see that the winner of the recent elections, Ouattara, takes his rightful role as President of Cote d’Ivoire, and their shared resolve to see former Gbagbo cede power.”
But the White House did not address the main concern of the ECOWAS delegation, which is securing the consent and full support of America and the United nations (UN) for the military plan of ECOWAS to forcefully remove Gbagbo. Instead the statement made ambiguous and unclear references to “a peaceful transition of power” in the country.
The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh, who also spoke at the Daily Trust event, warned Africans not to lose the opportunities presented by its enormous resources to be great.
She said the continent was on the eve of its finest hour and it should not lose sight of it, adding that Africa has the resources to feed itself and the rest of the world.
In his presentation, the former Managing Director and member, Blair Commission on Africa, Mr. Fola Adeola, disagreed with President Barack Obama that the continent does not need strong men, but strong institutions, insisting that institutions also need men.
According to him, “a government that does not derive from the people is not a government. Africa needs strongmen, not just strong institutions.”
The Chairman of Media Trust Limited, Malam Kabiru Yusuf, said the dialogue was taking place amidst, “momentous events in Africa, and indeed in Nigeria, where we are.”
He observed that the year 2011 promises to be a more difficult one in the politics of Africa.
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