SELFLESS LEADERSHIP IS KEY TO AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS: YOUNG PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDERS MUST SHOW THE WAY

THE GREAT MYSTERY
A great mystery of the contemporary world is the widespread poverty and the general under development that continue to afflict the African people and for that matter the people of our own country Ghana vis-à-vis the enormous resource endowment of the continent .It is common knowledge that Africa is very rich in all the natural resources including: Good soil, water resources ,plant and animal life, sun light ,hard working people and of course the much talked about mineral resources such as gold, bauxite ,iron ore ,copper and crude oil among several others.

It is for this obvious reasons that the present generation of youth are at a lose as regards widespread poverty in Africa. So much is the disappointment among the youth with the embarrassing economic situation of our homeland, Africa that millions of them resort to irregular means of escaping from the hardship of their homelands to seek greener pastures in Europe, North America and other developed countries.

Stories are told, of the thousands of young people from Ghana and other West African countries who out of desperation to enjoy the greener pastures of the Western world, decide to brace the dreads of the Sahara desert , by travelling across it by land to Libya where they hope to slip to Italy and other European countries.

The stories also speak of the hundreds of such youth who perish in such ventures and the thousands who suffer so much indignity and humiliations in the quest for a better life in the western world and elsewhere. It is interesting to say that these were the same places that our forebears had to go because of the use of force by the white colonist

It is even more interesting, to say that even when ships were freely available to take them to the Americas , our forefathers did not only reject the move with a scorn but also resisted it with all their might .

A century and more after these happenings and half a century and more after the shackles of colonialism have been broken and we have lived as free people , is it not astonishing and totally embarrassing , that our circumstances have grown so bad that our youth now have to even steal the same offer that our forebears looked on with scorn and is considered by many African human right advocates as the worse case of human right abuse in the history of mankind?

ANSWERS
Certainly something of great value to our forefathers has gone missing in our contemporary society and the youth must look for it. A cherished practice has sunk into oblivion and the youth have the responsibility of bringing it back. It means we have thrown away the principles and values that Kwame Nkrumah, J.B Danquah,Haile Selassie,Patrice Lumumba , Jomo Kenyatta , Leopold Sedar Senghor, Nnamdi Azikiwe , Steve Biko, Sekou Toure and the several other freedom fighters kept, in the course of the liberation struggle and the youth must restore those principles and values to their respective places.

THE WAY FORWARD
Many are these principles and values but the one that Africa is in dire need of now is selflessness. The time is now for us to put individualistic thoughts and actions behind us and get pre-occupied with the advancement of the national interest .indeed the youth have the responsibility of confronting the lapses which have reduced our country and continent to such indignity , keeping in mind , the fact that it is the only home we have and that running away to other peoples country is only an attempt to run away from the responsibility of making our home a good place for ourselves. In the light of this, the youth especially those who are fortunate to be in public office ought to ;

 present themselves as model leaders and for that matter true servants of the state who are willing to devote themselves to serving the needs of the ordinary people, instead of using their positions to enrich themselves.

• They therefore ought to be moderate in their demand for benefits (salaries, ex-gratia etc) that they enjoy as servants of the state so that , other citizens , can also have a share of the resources of the nation in the form of provision of health services, good drinking water, Housing, sanitary services, accessible and affordable quality education ,reliable power supply ,good roads and effective security services among several others.

 The youth must also lead the way in providing a new generation of leaders who are willing to risk their own fate, in order to do what is right and will be of benefit to the nation as a whole and also for the long term.

• True patriots, who are prepared to sacrifice their political ambitions for national good and are therefore willing to adopt policies and programmes that will be of great benefit to the nation in the future even where the short term implications are not pleasant and can cause the defeat of the implementing leaders, in elections.

• They must therefore show the way , in providing that leadership that can say this settlement is developing at the wrong place and must be stopped or that market is starting at the wrong place and must be discouraged without paying too much attention to the vote it will lose by taking such steps.

FINAL WORD
As we celebrate Founder's Day every year ,there is the need to constantly remind ourselves of the fact that the basis of leadership is selflessness and that no society can achieve meaningful life for its people if the leaders do not exhibit the highest level of selflessness. The onus therefore lies on the youth to make Ghana and Africa at large, a happy home by providing the model leadership that can drive the needed change, for the benefit of all citizens.

BY: JOSEPH TETTEH, FOUNDER OF THE FOUNDATION FOR YOUTH PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT(FYPD)

Call:0244571090
e-mail:[email protected]