In Search of Incorruptible African Leadership

AFRICANGLOBE – In the 21^st century, whoever examines the leadership crises on the African continent seems to have a few questions which still remain unanswered: could there still be some incorruptible leaders out there which the continent must reach out to? If yes, why have they refused to step forward at a time when the African people need them most?

Why do people with strong moral backgrounds never seem to be interested in the political African discourse? Can Africans continue to leave the fate of their children in the hands of those greedy politicians that are seeking political power as a means to their financial breakthrough?

Shocking Documentary Portrays a Looming Crisis

A couple of days ago, while busily examining the ways in which the African youth can save the continent from the firm grip of corruption, neo-colonialism, bad leadership and the wasteful nature of our ‘democratic’ elections (as in Zambia where by-elections wastes huge chunk of taxpayers money), a friend of mine recommend l could be better off doing some research on the emerging trend where corporate institutions are rather facilitating the systems that worsen our woes in a more sophisticated manner.

In fact, just when l thought Africa is on cause to uproot corruption for good, l was shocked to discover that what we have witnessed for from previous years were just a tip of the iceberg. With the advent of science and technology, corporate greed and neo-colonialism still at work, African leaders are still looting the continent on a daily basis without a trace. Curiosity they say kills the cat. I began a journey in search of answers to help save mother Africa from the hands of these traitors.

There and then my attention was quickly drawn to some essential materials. On top on the list were:
1.“Hiding Africa’s Looted Funds: Silence of the Western Media”, a must read article written by Lord Aikins Adusei.

2.“How To Rob Africa”, an Al-Jazeera documentary by Zimbabwean undercover journalist Stanley Kwenda and Gahana’s Anas Aremeyaw Anas(a documentary I suggest every African youth must watch).

In “Hiding Africa’s Looted Funds”, the writer threw more light on how financial institutions here in Africa and abroad have been colluding with corrupt African leaders to rob the continent of her wealth; depositing these blood money somewhere in Europe and America without any media outrage whatsoever. Yet under their leadership, these are the very leaders who lead the crusade to solicit for more loans on behalf of the African people as if to say such loans are truly meant for our development. What fails to make the news is the percentage of such loans that end up in offshore bank accounts. It was very interesting reading the tall list of overseas financial institutions which have been collaborating with corrupt African leaders to steal African moneys for decades.

Perhaps the sad part is that many of these African leaders often die, leaving the huge sums of looted funds in offshore banks which is later confiscated by the Western politicians for their own use. As we speak today, all the billions of dollars that was stolen from Nigeria and recently in Libya have all gone ‘missing’. Nevertheless, the West have never made any accounts to Africa on the whereabouts of such moneys though many of such African leaders have long died and gone. For instance, what has happened to all those dollar accounts owned by African politicians secretly held in Swiss Banks? Has Europe made any effort to return these looted funds to Africa, though many of such African leader have long died and gone?

How To Rob Africa

While watching “How to Rob Africa”, I shed tears and wondered why the West have carefully designed such sophisticated schemes with the sole purpose of robing Africa of her wealth. I became completely astounded about the sophisticated nature in which corruption has eaten deep into the moral fibres of our leaders. What is more worrisome at the moment is the nature in which some fellow Africans are willing to collaborate with the perpetrators of these criminal activities while remaining anonymous.

Currently, it is said that the Caribbean is increasingly becoming the safe hideout for such looted funds from Africa. I am in touch with some organisations to help expose some of the politicians and other similar institutions involved in the looting of Africa.

Old Age is Bad For African Leadership

In order to end the crisis, the old age-style leadership must end. The youth must be given the opportunity to exhibit their youthful exuberance at the leadership front. For many years, Africa has suffered enough from the hands of old men who never see the need to pave way for young and fresh ideas. This is despite the fact that many of the youth are beaming with fresh ideas and solutions. Our constitutions for instance have cupped the age requirement for the office of the president at 50 and above. This trend has completely side-lined all the youth from daring to venture into the highest offices on the continent.

May 11, 2013

African Globe

Caribbean Blog International

The Bahamas is establishing the wrong leadership tradition... Bahamian men have become as powerful as the political system they oversee

When will the general election loser depart?

thenassauguardian editorial



A general election looms. The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has selected about half of the candidates it will field for the contest. The governing Free National Movement (FNM) is finishing its agenda in an effort to present to the people a case it hopes is convincing enough for re-election.

At this stage it is unclear who will lead the next government, especially considering that Branville McCartney’s Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has entered the contest.

Consideration of the fate of the party leaders after the contest is almost as interesting as consideration of which party will win the election.

Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie entered the House of Assembly in 1977. Since then, each has won his seat in every successive election. In doing so, both men have amassed much political power.

The Bahamas is a democracy with a political party system that is not so democratic. Once the post of party leader is secured, in The Bahamas it is up to the leader to determine when he will leave.

No FNM can defeat Ingraham and become party leader; no PLP can defeat Christie and become party leader.

Many assume the loser at the next general election will walk away from front-line politics soon after the votes are counted. This assumption is largely based on the age of the men. Christie will be 68 this year and Ingraham 64.

But with so much power, and the inability to be defeated in a party contest, should we assume that either man would leave right away?

Ingraham has said repeatedly that he will listen to the people. If they want him to go, he says he will go graciously. When the FNM lost in 2002, he left. He did this before hearing that ‘voice of the people’ asking him to return. If that voice calls him again, would he listen again at the age of almost 70?

Christie would be a two-time loser if the PLP is defeated again by the FNM. In the Westminster tradition leaders say goodbye at this point. Christie, though, does not like to be forced to decisions about his leadership of the PLP. A scenario could emerge where he says he would stay on as leader for a year or so after a second consecutive defeat in order to allow for the election of another party leader.

A year or so could stretch into a long time.

Pondering this question about the futures of these men reveals the weakness of our political system. If they want to stay, both could withstand for some time the voices in their parties who would want them to go.

Both men should be admired for being Machiavellian enough to have secured enough power to determine how it will end. They are both extraordinary politicians.

The country, though, is establishing the wrong leadership tradition. Men have become as powerful as the political system they oversee.

Sir Lynden Pindling was suffering from terminal cancer when he finally retired from politics. His political sons will too say when they will go. And with the ultimate power to decide, no one should assume when the loser will say goodbye.

We should not blame them for winning the political fights and securing this power. Instead, Bahamians should become more involved with politics and the main political parties beyond merely expressing views at election time.

Bahamians have the power to shape the political culture of this country.

This must be done through active participation. We can only get quality leadership if it is demanded.

More of the electorate needs to influence and guide the political party system on a more consistent basis. Currently, too few people who think too similarly control and run the major political parties.

If a broader selection of Bahamians would become involved with this system, men will have less control over their political futures than they currently do.

Jul 09, 2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Caribbean Blog International

The 2012 general election issues are: Jobs, Crime, and Leadership

Leadership will be an issue in 2012 election

tribune242 editorial



IN A crescendo of emotion during the debate last month on the sale of BTC to Cable & Wireless, a member of the Opposition on the floor of the House loudly declared that the 2012 election would be fought on leadership.

Anxious to change the focus, Opposition leader Perry Christie at a PLP rally in Freeport on March 18 was quick to tell his party supporters that the general election will have nothing to do with personalities, but will be fought on issues. He declared that the Ingraham administration had been bad for the country, which had been "on a steep downhill ride for the past four years."

At his own rally in Nassau on the following evening, Prime Minister Ingraham directed the people's attention back to the drawing board. Agreeing that the election would be about jobs and crime, he wanted it to be known that it would also be about leadership.

"Don't forget, Mr Christie," he said, "it will also be about leadership. People of the Bahamas know what they can get when they are tired of what they got."

In the 2002 election, Mr Christie was an untried leader who promised that his was a "new" PLP --not of the Pindling stripe, which Bahamians had soundly rejected in 1992 -- but a new party that would bring them "help and hope." He also promised that, unlike the first PLP, his would be a scandal-free administration.

After five years under an indecisive leader and much scandal within the party, the PLP government failed to deliver on most of its promises. Other than much talk, there was little help and many voters had given up hope. As a result, the 2007 election was won on leadership. Five years of indecision was too much to tolerate. FNM leader Ingraham won the contest. Naturally, leadership is not an issue that Mr Christie would want to face again.

It is good to have all the answers for the country's ills, but if the country's leader is slow in executing them, then solutions are useless.

Mr Christie has claimed that Mr Ingraham is to blame for not quickly completing and executing plans that his government had taken to final signature, but which he had failed to sign. What Mr Christie does not seem to grasp is that if he had executed those agreements on time, many of the projects would have been completed, or nearing completion and Bahamians would have still been employed when the economic crash took the Bahamas and the rest of the world down.

However, it has to be admitted that Mr Christie's indecision has saved the Bahamas much. It gave the Ingraham government an opportunity to revise and renegotiate many of the contracts -- especially the Baha Mar deal, and the rejection of the Bluewater purchase of BTC, which would have been a disaster for this country.

In a radio talk show in February 2007 -- just before the May election -- then Prime Minister Christie admitted that he "could have done more" and was disappointed that he hadn't.

He said he had wanted to have a new straw market two years earlier. However, he only got around to signing the contract for a $22 million structure on February 16, 2007 - three months before the election. The old market had burned down in September 2001. When the FNM came to power in 2007 the overpriced new market was a controversial issue. Eventually the PLP's plans were scrapped, new plans were drawn, and on December 15, 2009 a new contract for its construction was signed. The Bay Street Market is now nearing completion.

Mr Christie said he wanted to have "the Royal Oasis opened a year ago, six months ago, and we're just now moving towards a final resolution of that" -- three months before a general election!

"Things have to take time and sometimes in the lives of politicians, the time is judged by five years," he told his radio audience. That is why a strong, decisive leader with vision is so important. The electorate has to understand that five years cannot accommodate an indecisive leader with an indifferent work ethic.

"I'm disappointed," Mr Christie had told his radio audience, three months before the Bahamian people voted him from office, "in the slowness of the realisation of the PLP's vision for the country. The major disappointment I have is that I could have done more."

It was an amazing admission of defeat - but with an excuse.

Mr Christie has presented the best argument of why Bahamians should not consider handing the government to him and his party in 2012. A rejection of the PLP at the polls in 2012 will spare both Mr Christie and the Bahamian people another five years of disappointment.

Even in defeat at the polls in 2007, indecision caused another 24 hours of confusion before the PLP could accept that they had in fact lost the government. According to his own testimony, Mr Christie had failed to grasp that a decisive, hard working leader was needed at the helm if much was to be accomplished in five years.

April 18, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

The Bahamian people want change

Courage, Care and Capacity
The Bahama Journal Editorial




This Tuesday past, we did precisely what so very many other people around the world thought they had to do – this is to say, we tuned in as Barack Obama, president of the United States of America delivered his State of the Union address.

This address while nominally delivered to and on behalf of the American people is one that piques the interests of the entire world because the United States – despite the challenges it currently faces – remains number one in the world.

And for sure, it remains the one country upon which the Bahamas and its neighbors in the Americas and the Caribbean also rely.

As reported in the Washington Post, “…Mr. Obama said that one of the most important things he could do in his presidency was to “open up more markets to American goods around the world.” He struck an optimistic tone, even as he described the challenges the nation still faces in a difficult economy with unemployment above 9 percent.

“We’re living in a new and challenging time, in which technology has made competition easier and fiercer than ever before,” Mr. Obama said. “Countries around the world are upping their game and giving their workers and companies every advantage possible.”

“But that shouldn’t discourage us,” he continued. “Because I know we can win that competition. I know we can out-compete any other nation on earth. We just have to make sure we’re doing everything we can to unlock the productivity of American workers, unleash the ingenuity of American businesses and harness the dynamism of America’s economy.”

We wish Mr. Obama and his great nation all the best.

We also know that, this beloved land of ours is currently being challenged and tested by any number of forces arrayed against it is clearly evident.

As in the case of the United States where forces conducing to the good are currently contending with certain reactionary tendencies, so too in a Bahamas where so very many Bahamians are apparently sick and tired of things as they are.

These people want change; and for sure, the kind of change they yearn for has to do with the grounding of a new kind of Bahamian – namely that kind of person who can comprehend that true nation-building must have love at its foundation.

In addition, there must also be in place leadership that has vision sufficient to take the Bahamas to that sweet place where each Bahamian sees himself as custodian of this nation’s patrimony.

But surely, there are some matters prerequisite to change that must be put in place – and here sooner rather than later – if this dream of real change - is to be translated into purposeful action.

Three such now come to mind; with these being: courage, care and capacity.

Courage plays its part when those who lead do what they must; care comes when they realize that, they can and should human beings with the greatest of respect – and for, the best of intentions are always for naught where and when capacity is either missing or some how or the other lacking.

And evidently, engaged and enthusiastic leadership has a crucially important part to play in this process.

Indeed, when we make any sustained reference for better and more committed leadership; in truth we are putting the case for leadership that has requisite depth and power to get the job done.

And so, whether the job in question has to do with health, education, security – or ongoing investment in the nation’s sustained growth and development, there will always be a need for the generation of that cadre of leaders who have the moxie to get on with the job at hand.

In such a renewed Bahamas, leadership would truly lead.

Put simply, while we have a pressing need to get out from under our current set of problems; there is commensurately, a crying need for the Bahamian people to become more engaged in this process of change.

There is also a need for the forging of a truly national consensus on a number of issues that now beg for both resolve resolution.

Here crime comes to mind; so does the matter involving undocumented migrants living and working in the Bahamas – and their relatives who routinely brave the high seas in order to join up with earlier migrant-pioneers.

Evidently, therefore, the time is surely now for both the governing party and its parliamentary opposition, and other interested parties in civil society to – once and for all – hammer out a consensus on this matter involving Haitians and other such people that best serves the national interests of the Bahamas.

Evidently, "things as they are" is just not the way to go.

In the ultimate analysis, the best leadership that a people can ever have is comprised of men and women seized with will, vision and demonstrated capacity to be up and doing with their assigned jobs.

January 28th, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International