Africa Speaks

African activist and nutritionist Ruth Oniang'o, Ph.D., has a prescription for African leaders. It involves serving the people who voted them into office.

Dear Friends
I was asked to put down what I would say in 10 minutes to African Heads of State meeting in Sudan next week. This is what I wrote. It will appear somewhere on the internet but I thought you deserve the privilege of getting this first hand from me.
Have a nice weekend.
Ruth

Africa is a great continent, with a rich culture and currently the best natural resource base in the world. Look at the diverse cultures, the different climatic conditions, the widely varied topography but most importantly, the people's unique spirit of survival and resilience.

But there is a dearth of good leadership in Africa. Africans would not be difficult to please or to govern, if only their leaders would listen to them, if only their leaders could pull down the walls around their State Houses, if only their leaders could refuse to eat until their people have eaten, if only their leaders would nurture them the same way mother hen protects her chicks against vultures. Africa has leaders who want for themselves first, who have lost close ties with the people they govern, who worry more about today while they leave tomorrow to worry about itself, who quickly think they are in State house to serve only their relatives or ethnic groups, who lack a vision for the whole continent, who do not know how to mobilize and utilize the rich human resource we have on the continent.

Heads of State are there because people put them there, and want them to be there. This is one thing they should remember every single day. It is immoral and ungodly for any child or adult to starve to death, for whatever reason, when there is plenty of food, and when food designed for the famine stricken people is being sold by those who are able. This is what we call corruption; it amounts to immorality of the highest order. It is immoral for us to look on as our women are defiled and raped. What would you do if it were your mother, sister, daughter or grandmother? It is immoral for us to exclude anybody for whatever reason. You are a leader of all your people and not of only those who supported you. Leaders should go by example and when the going gets tough, just go back to your spiritual book, whether the Bible or the Koran, and recoil to your maker for inspiration and advice.

Our Creator was good enough to ensure that all of us die, and all of us age. No human being is immortal, so it does not matter how many terms one serves, eventually one must pass on the mantle. And it would be better to do this, then, when one is still popular and to follow the provisions of the constitution. A country cannot be left leaderless, and no leader is indispensable, no human being is anyway. We should instead worry about the legacy we are going leave behind. We would be better people if we worried about the TRUE things that would be said about us when we die. Surely we must prepare young people for leadership so they do not agitate to take over unprepared and prematurely. The intergenerational aspect of leadership is one that few leaders worry about.

They spend more time fire fighting.

Am I being too critical? Maybe. But then I do not have the luxury of time. And I do not wish to be judged harshly by future generations, that there was a lot I could have done but never did. Well, there is a lot more I could have said if I had time. I do not envy our positions, but then you are there. Do your best, and be satisfied to have done your best when you leave office.

Africa is not short of friends. There are many. The AID that we receive comes from the sweat of the tax payers in those countries. How do you think they feel when they hear of all the corruption? Why should they care more about your citizens than you do ourselves? Why should they sacrifice their comfort more than we do?

SERVE and earn the respect of your people, rather than rule and be feared by your citizens.

Impulsive response by Ruth Oniang'o

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Prof. Ruth K. Oniang'o, PhD
Founder, Rural Outreach Program (ROP) www.ropkenya.org
AND
Editor-in-Chief, African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and
Development (AJFAND)
Formerly: African Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences (AJFNS)
Shelter Afrique Centre, Kilimanjaro Avenue Off Mara Road, Upper Hill
P.O. Box 29086-00625
Nairobi, KENYA
Tel: +254-20-2737989
Fax: +254-20-2734039
Email: oniango@iconnect.co.ke
Website: www.ajfand.net
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-----Original Message-----
From: Josephat Juma [mailto:juma@irenkenya.com]
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 9:05 AM
To: oniango@iconnect.co.ke
Subject: Opinion

Dear Hon.Prof.Oniango,

The African Heads of State meet in Sudan next week.

If you were given a ten minute hearing in their forum:

1.What would you tell them about your country?

2.What five things would you tell them about Africa in general?

I will appreciate you responses before Jan.16 2005.

Regards,

Josephat Juma.

www.africanexecutive.com