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Project
African heroes in schools-Panellists
Accra, Oct. 25, Ghanadot/GNA- Panellists at the launch of a
book on Leadership for Change in Africa have called on
African governments to institute courses on the study on
past African leadership heroes so that students could learn
more about African leadership models.
They contended that there was no justification in running
courses on European and American history and, by extension,
European and American heroes and leadership models in
African schools, as if there were no leadership models to be
learnt from the past heroes of Africa.
This was at the launch of a book entitled "Under The Tree of
Talking Leadership for Change in Africa", which is a
collection of essays from renowned African writers including
the famous living legend, Professor Ali A. Mazrui, Onyekachi
Wambu, Chinua Achede and Mariana Ofosu on Tuesday in Accra.
John Githongo wrote the foreword of the 291-page book that
is the brainchild of the British Council and intended to
throw light on existing but neglected African leadership
models.
It is also to identify the leadership challenges facing
Africa and give indicators on how to rectify them and chart
an appropriate and relevant model to meet the demands of the
time.
Mr. Onyekachi Wambu, Editor of the book, noted that it was
unfortunate that Africans tended to look outside more than
within for leadership models to govern their states, saying
the trend stemmed from the way African children were brought
up to admire Western heroes instead of their own.
He said history, especially about Egypt, showed that Africa
had her own past great leaders and, therefore, great
leadership models that the present generation could learn
from and apply to their national lives.
"Egyptology alone provides us with very valuable examples of
relevant leadership models we can emulate in this
generation."
Mr. Onyekachi Wambu for instance, noted that at least 15
million experts and skill-based Africans lived in Europe
alone, but African governments had not done much to harness
that wealth of African human resource to move the continent
forward, but they depended on expatriate personnel for the
running of their economies.
Mr. Wambu said whereas the first 50 years of
post-independence Africa focused mainly on liberation
leadership, the next 50 years would require democratic and
development oriented leaders to deliver the kind of economic
development and better living standards that the peoples of
the continent would expect from their leaders.
"In the next 50 years African people would expect to build a
stronger relationship with the leaders, based on trust and
accountability. They would look up to their leaders to
empower them, ensure safety and security to enable the
people to provide better living standards for themselves,"
he said.
Mr. Wambu said the business community and the youth would
seek to be actively involved in the national development
process and African politicians would be expected to create
the environment to enable them to do so.
"People would look up to leadership for good examples of
strategy, suggestions, solutions and service for development
instead of for liberation oriented leaders," he said.
He noted that in the face of the challenges of globalization
and the invasion of the Asian Tigers in African economies
"we need to take African unity more seriously if we want to
be competitive."
Professor Samuel K. Adjepong, Chairman of the Council of
African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), who launched the
books, also called on Africans to look into Africa for
leadership models.
He suggested that educational institutions should have a
full course on Egyptology to learn about Egyptian
civilization and the important leadership models it offered.
Prof. Adjepong recommended the book for all levels of the
education system as well as a workshop tool for corporate
organizations, saying it would be an effective tool for
shaping the minds of the present generation on the great
leadership models that existed within the continent.
"The book brings out a sense of hopefulness for Africa and I
recommend it for everyone who has the future of Africa at
heart," he said.
Prof. Adjepong noted that the book dealt with the issue of
poor time management in Africa, the issue of stifling the
potential of the youth and also the culture of taking on
more than enough jobs and failing to deliver in the end.
Mariana Ofosu urged Africans in the Diaspora, who had
planned all their lives around staying abroad to start
reconsidering their decision and plan towards moving home to
Africa, saying the continent was now beaming with
opportunities thus attracting the Asian Tigers.
Prof. Ali Mazrui was quoted in the book as saying that
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda was a great example of a
development leader in Africa while Robert Mugabe of troubled
Zimbabwe epitomized a liberation leader at a time when his
country needed a democratic and development leader.
Mr. Moses Anibaba, Managing Director of the British Council,
Ghana, noted that the publication of the book was part of
efforts to develop the leadership and management potential
of the youth in Africa under the management scheme of the
British Council.
The first of 24 autographed copies of the book was sold at
GH100 cedis.
GNA
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