An Opinion of the Behavioural and Governance Principles African Leaders Ought to Hold in Order to Lead Africa into Global Prominence

Corruption, poverty, and political instability are national disorders mostly ascribed to African nations and their leadership. Over the past 50 to 70 years, Africa has made a slow transition from this dire state of underdevelopment to a relatively improved standard of living. This is with the exception of some African countries which still face the struggles of civil wars and coup d’états. Nevertheless, this collective growth, instigated primarily by western influence, has not brought the African continent to a place where is could be at par with its global competitors. The drag in the development of African nations could be attributed to the very core of African leadership. As a citizen of Africa, I believe that the continent could be a better global player on the world stage both economically and politically if we pay more attention to the leadership principles that govern our nations. The African leader ought to have a sense of belonging to his community, prioritise the rule of law through which the rights of the people could be enshrined and ultimately, ought to hold a high sense of good ethics.

1957 saw the Gold Coast become Ghana by achieving political independence. It was a great achievement at the time, considering the fact that it was the first African colony to achieve such political status. Excitement was rife in the nation, but hardly were the new leaders prepared for what followed suit. Ghana faced thirty-five years of continuous leadership changes, coups and economic hardships. Leaders who took the helm of affairs were selfish, power-drunk and over-ambitious. This led to the decline in economic growth of Ghana. Ghana used to be the largest cocoa producer world-wide: Ghana produced more than half the global yield by the 1920s (Butler). The arbitrary change of government caused the economic down turn of the nation and Ghana, thus, gradually lost the respect and trailblazer status she had previously enjoyed as a forerunner of sub-Saharan independence.