LEADERSHIP IN AFRICA

Objectives
 By the end of this section, students will be able to:
 Define the concept of leadership

 Distinguish between traditional and modern leadership in Africa by

looking at their features.

 Discuss the importance and challenges facing traditional and modern

leadership in Africa.

 Suggest remedies to the challenges and the lessons that can be learnt from
leadership in general.

 Identify and discuss the leadership style that have emerged on the Africa
continent.
 Introduction
 Studies on politics in Africa have pointed out that poor leadership has
been a major factor that has contributed to the development crisis on
the continent since independence.

 The richness of the continent’s ancient heritage, the wealth of its

abundant natural resources, and the liveliness of its more than eight
million people, call up the vision of a secure and prosperous future.

 However, it has been asserted that the trouble with Africa is simply and
squarely a failure of leadership. Therefore the need to study traditional
and modern leadership is never as critical as in the case of Africa.

 Leadership is important in defining the success of good governance-as

a rare commodity on the African continent.
 Leadership Defined
 ‘‘Leadership is any attempt to influence the
behavior of another group’’ (Paul Hersey, The
Situational Leader).
 According to Aryee, J.R.A @ IAS and Contributors
(2013:182) leadership can be understood as a:
 pattern of behavior.

 personal quality.

 political value and process.

 Good leadership is ethical leadership that promotes
values.

 Leadership should also possess three main virtues;

 Ability to mobilize and inspire who would be still and
directionless

 Ability to promote unity and encourage members of a

group to move in the same direction and

 Ability to strengthen organizations by establishing a

hierarchy of responsibilities and roles.
 Leadership Styles
 Leadership styles include- transformational, laissez-fair and
transactional leadership.

 Transformational leadership is a leader style which emphasizes not

only strategic vision and strong ideological convictions of a leader
but also the personal resolution and political will to put them into
practice.

 Laissez-faire leadership champion a leader who is reluctant to

interfere matters outside his/her personal responsibility.

 Transactional leadership emphasizes the unspoken social exchange or

transaction over time that exists between the leader and followers,
including reciprocal influence and interpersonal perception.
 Traditional Leadership
 Traditional leadership according to Max Weber (1947) rests on
an ‘‘established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions
and the legitimacy of the status of those exercising authority
under them’’

 It connotes authority and legitimacy based on history,

traditions and customs.

 Traditional leadership is closely related to hereditary systems

of power and privilege

 Traditional leadership is global one and not only African

phenomenon.
 Features and Roles
 Traditional leadership occupied an important feature of
political, economic, social, cultural military and judicial
authority which was perceived to be derived from customs,
traditions, and practices of the people in countries like
Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa.

 Traditional leadership is regarded as closed system,

characterized by stratification, hereditary succession,
legitimacy and personalism.

 In the selection of traditional leaders, the qualities of

charisma, personality, bravery, and wisdom were taken into
account by the kingmakers.
 A traditional leader/chief during the pre-colonial period
performed a number of functions which include; military,
religious, judicial, administrative, legislative, economic
and cultural functions.

 Military function-like presidents in the modern day

politics, the chief in the traditional societies lead his people
in war.

 Religious function-the chief is considered as the

embodiment of the beliefs, hopes, fears and aspirations of
his people since he sits on the ancestral stool.
 Judicial function-he sees to bring reconciliation among his people.

 Administrative function-the chief seeks and obtains counsel from

his traditional council of elders.

 Economic function-he constitutes to the economic development of

his state by mobilizing his people for communal labour.

 Legislative function-he performs both administrative and

legislative duties through the traditional council.

 Cultural function-the chief is considered as embodying the cultural

heritage of his people and his court is a means through which this
heritage is transmitted.
 Challenges Facing Traditional Leadership
 Some significant changes have affected the traditional
functions of the leader/chief.

 The only traditional roles effectively retained by the chief are

the religious and cultural functions.

 However, the chiefs in the contemporary African societies act

as interpreters of government policies to their people.

 Other important challenges include bringing development to

their traditional areas, succession disputes and reaching
accommodations with central government on their roles in the
modern state.
 Modern Leadership Defined
 Modern leadership connotes a set of impersonal rules associated
with an office rather than the office holder which makes it far less
likely to be abused or to give rise to injustice.

 Authority and legitimacy are conferred by rules and regulations,

which has been drawn up in a rational framework.

 Leaders are subject to the laws; hence the society is characterized

by norms of impersonality and the lack of uncertainty.

 Some example of modern leadership include political, bureaucratic,

religious, military, corporate and judicial leadership
 Features and Roles
 Modern leadership is characterized by openness, legal
rationality, universalism, equality and change.

 Modern leadership links authority to a clearly and legally

defined set of rules.

 The power of the leader is determined in the final analysis by

formal, constitutional rules, which limits what an office holder
is able to do

 They perform numerous of functions such as military, judicial,

administrative, legislative, and economic among others.
 Challenges Facing Modern Leadership
 The major challenge include;

 Meeting the expectations with insufficient resources

 The need to struggle with continued trust on an unfavorable

international economic order

 The need to incorporate a diverse population into a workable

whole

 And to establish the guidelines for a distinctive African path of

not only constructive change but socio-economic development.
 Factors That Have Contributed To Poor Leadership
In Africa
 The record of good leadership in Africa has neither
been enviable nor encouraging.

 Poor political leadership has contributed to

 lack of political and bureaucratic commitment
 poverty,
 political instability,
 war,
 poor nepotism,
 exclusive politics and
 moral decadence on the African continent.
 Some of the factors that have contributed to a bad leadership profile
in Africa are;
 Partisanship

 Lack of mentoring of leaders

 Corruption

 Neo-partrimonialism

 Promotion of self interest rather than public interest

 Poor enforcement of codes of conduct

 Factors That Can Promote Politically Elastic
Leadership In Africa
 These factors must be considered to develop
politically good leadership in Africa;

 There should be recognition and appreciation by

leaders that widespread participation is compatible
with political legitimacy

 Competent and respected local leaders must be

offered significant financial and administrative
support for various development projects.
 National programmes on leadership-nurturing in
Africa must be coordinated and strengthened with
capacity building as the core focus.

 The methods of selection and recruitment of political

leadership at the national and local levels should be re-
assessed

 Leadership at all levels must be sensitized on the

important challenges facing the public upon which
they want the attention of leaders to be focused such as
poverty reduction, exclusive politics, authoritarianism,
corruption, gender equity, HIV/AIDS and conflicts.
End of show

Thank you.