It is sad to listen to foreign leaders, and their subordinates speak to African heads of state as if they work under them; yet, at every election cycle, millions of Africans join queues to vote for people to lead them.
These leaders then form their cabinets, which normally include finance ministers. Sadly, officials from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) become those who end up running the economies; they determine how many people are employed, they determine which projects should be implemented, and simply, everything that the economy needs. Does it mean our people are not qualified to run the affairs of state?
From the 1980s when sub-Saharan countries implemented the Structural Adjustment Programme and divested state-owned enterprises, it was clear that African leaders were simply warming the chairs in their offices, – the real leaders were those from the Bretton Woods institutions.
What is painful is the fact that we have our people who attended the same institutions like these officials from the World Bank and the IMF, so why are they not managing their economies well? Is it that they don’t understand how things are done?
A very good example is a recent exchange between the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Accra and the European Union’s representative in Ghana, Rune Skinnebach. In a statement, the Russians said they had taken note of a recent remark made by Skinnebach, who described Russia as “neither a credible nor reliable partner” for Ghana.
The Embassy said the assertion by Skinnebach was “merely unfounded, and turns reality on its head”, and pointed out that “it is Russia that has remained a consistent and predictable partner to African states for decades, and our relations with the continent are built on the principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs.”
The Embassy claimed the tone adopted by the EU representative was “patronizing, peremptory and dismissive – betrays Brussels’ true attitude towards Russia as an adversary, against whom no means are spared, including cheap propaganda”.
A very important point that the Russian Embassy stated was that, the EU Ambassador failed to mention the key point that Russia’s individual investment projects in Africa are being held up not because Russia is unwilling or unable to carry them out, but because the West is deliberately creating obstacles, which he said was the “illegal unilateral restrictions imposed by the US, the EU and their allies – including secondary sanctions and threats against African banks, companies and individuals,” that has blocked the financing, logistics and payments. “Under flimsy pretexts, Western banks are refusing to process transactions involving Russian operators, whilst partners in Ghana and other African countries are being threatened with exclusion from dollar-denominated settlements,”
This situation between the Russian Embassy and the EU in Ghana, comes to show the way that foreign countries tend to treat African countries. It is like they do not have any respect for African leaders.
Some people have blamed this attitude on the fact that our leaders are always on the look out for donations from outside to support projects that sometimes are not even implemented.
There are also those who point to the way African leaders look when they stand beside leaders outside the continent in pictures. They do not look like they are really in control once they are outside the continent. It is this that has given cause to take a closer look at what has made African leaders feel inferior when they travel outside the continent.
All over the continent, diplomats speak to our presidents in a manner they would not do back in their countries. Our diplomats do not comment on lapses in democratic practices, and other terrible things that happen in the countries they are accredited to. Could this be a case of being careful or simply, knowing where you stand in the scheme of things?
Though painful to see African leaders being treated with contempt all over, one can only say that they have called for it, by refusing to do what is right. One area that African leaders have woefully failed is eradicating corruption. Sometimes one wonders if they really understand their role in the political space. The level of corrupt practices that have been reported across the continent shows that our leaders enter politics simply to enrich themselves. And they do it big time!
It is not like corruption does not exist outside Africa; it does. But state institutions in the developed world are allowed to work, and they make those who engage in corruption pay for their sins. Outside the continent, most of the leaders are seen implementing policies that give their people hope. In Africa, the opposite is the case. That is why young Africans have lost hope, and continue to do anything possible just to leave for greener pastures, that they end up not getting.
These are some of the things that have made our leaders lose respect among their peers outside the continent. They see African leaders as people who have nothing to offer their citizens because they are always begging for alms in the name of using these to improve their countries. Unfortunately, these donations end up in the bank accounts of some leaders. Given these attitudes, why would they be respected?
Sadly, African leaders do not see how they are poorly treated on the world stage, and so they only create the impression to make those they lead see them as being in charge.
It is not clear if the political class across the continent is aware that it is not treated well outside the continent because, if it did, one would expect that whenever there is a change of government, those who take over will behave better. Unfortunately, this is not the case. One wonders if it is poor training of those who are invited to sit in cabinet or, just that the thinking of these politicians is simply to get as much wealth as they can, once they get the opportunity to be in charge.
The time has come for African politicians to know that joining a political party is not just an opportunity to become a special person. It means producing policies that would bring positive change to the people. It means creating opportunities that reduce the dependence of the countries on IMF/World Bank officials determining which road their countries should take.
One wonders how these politicians feel when some middle level officials from these foreign institutions are brought into their countries to help plan their economies. Don’t they feel ashamed to read reports from these foreign institutions castigating how they are running their countries?
If it is a case of poor training for members of the cabinet to understand how countries are run, what is preventing our leaders from getting the proper training? If they do not know how to draw up policies that would improve their countries, they should put in place programmes to train those who are appointed to high office. They should know that getting the opportunity to lead a country is not simply to provide them with SUVs and security details to blow sirens to announce their presence in the streets of their countries.
For some of us, the poor treatment of our leaders is something that is worrying. Even though they don’t seem to care, we do, because it is reflected in the way we ordinary people are treated as people without any class in this world.
Our leaders should know, it is not enough for them to stand on the same dais with their foreign counterparts to listen to their national anthems being played when they go on foreign trips. We the people want to see our leaders becoming bold because they have achieved the necessary economic growth, cured corruption to very low levels, so that they can also talk to their foreign counterparts when they go wrong.
Simply put, we want real leaders, and not those pretending to be!
- business a.m. commits to publishing a diversity of views, opinions and comments. It, therefore, welcomes your reaction to this and any of our articles via email: comment@businessamlive.com
Francis Koktuse is a free-lance journalist based in Accra. Currently, he is the local Stringer for the New York Times. He also writes for University World News, as well as Science and Development.Net. He was a Staff Writer for the African Concord, and Africa Economic Digest in London, UK.
Reflecting on Geometric Power’s laudation of Abia Government