That it seems far away the time of Mandela, Houphouët, Bourguiba, Senghor, Sankara... Faced with increasingly complex challenges, Africa is sorely lacking visionary, honest and courageous leaders capable of meeting them. And to inspire the crowds.
"We chose to risk new paths to be happier. We have chosen to implement new techniques. We have chosen to seek forms of organization better suited to our civilization, abruptly and definitively rejecting all kinds of external diktats, thus creating the conditions for a dignity that lives up to our ambitions. Refusing the state of survival, loosening the pressures, freeing our countryside from a medieval immobility or regression, democratizing our society, opening minds to a universe of collective responsibility to dare to invent the future. »
These words, which resonate more than ever in the ears of Africans, were spoken by Thomas Sankara on 4 October 1984 before the United Nations General Assembly. One of the last great leaders, with Nelson Mandela of course, who marked the "recent" history of the continent.
Vision, intelligence, courage, empathy with his people, audacity, a sense of duty and the general interest: "Thom-Sank", whom his fellow citizens affectionately nicknamed "captain-people", which says a lot about his popularity, perfectly embodied what is expected of a political leader. A profile that is hardly more flourishing nowadays, and not only in Africa: the time of de Gaulle (France), Churchill (Great Britain), Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore), Lumumba (Zaire), Houphouët (Ivory Coast), Senghor (Senegal), Bourguiba (Tunisia) or Nasser (Egypt) seems far away...
Global leadership shortage
Let's be honest: if we are afflicted by the global leadership shortage – even by the indigence or crass incompetence of some current heads of state such as Donald Trump (United States) or Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil) – let us recognize that the world has changed considerably and that the task is now much more difficult. Having a real vision and the courage to implement it is no longer enough. First, the challenges facing our leaders are far more complex and challenging. If once it was a question, in Africa, of fighting successively for independence, the construction of a nation-state, democracy and then economic sovereignty, in a fairly readable global environment, today the list of challenges and pitfalls to overcome would give chills to a wolverine.
The effects of globalization, the digital revolution, climate change, the growing aspirations of a growing number of young people, the need for the continent to find its place in the world, terrorism, the thirst for change, the growing needs of populations... In a most complicated context: everything goes faster, everything is more "transparent". The emergence and omnipotence of social networks, both magnifying and distorting mirrors, sounding boards and people's courts, is yet another obstacle for our leaders. The slightest of their actions is revealed, commented, criticized.
Last but not least, leadership can no longer be "vertical". Paternalism, like old-fashioned management, where the leader was followed by his troops without the latter asking themselves any questions, is no longer appropriate. It is necessary to "take others with you", to be "inspiring", – a very fashionable term – to "give meaning", to convince, to explain, to justify oneself. Think "well-being" and no longer just growth or development. In short, it is no longer permissible to say "it is like this and not otherwise", even if it is struck at the corner of common sense...