AFRICA, THE WEB AND THE WIND OF CHANGE - OUR LEADERS AND THIS AGE

AFRICA, THE WEB AND THE WIND OF CHANGE

3.

OUR LEADERS AND THIS AGE

To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.

The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
"We did it ourselves!"
 Lao-tsu

It’s a rude awakening.

And do not blame us,

It has been a long time coming.

We did try to wake our fathers,

A gentle tap here,

A gentle tap there

Still they slept on.

We panicked and gave them a slap.

Rude?

Neccessary!

Are we here by choice? That can be argued. If Africa is fallen, it is we the Africans that have failed. It is not what was done to us, it is what we do to ourselves, and it is what we allow, what we permit, what we accept and what we submit to. It is not just about what our fathers failed to do or did not do right, the question is - are we any different?

The times are changing and they are upon us now, what must we do? We must rise to the occasion, we must dialogue, we must create awareness, we must network, we must tweet, we must blog, we must open up, and we must speak up.

To most of our leaders, these were strange words until Obama came and won the elections on the internet and now they crawl around our social media space seeking support for the elections. This is where we live, our leaders must come here. On this web, they’ll find we are objective and can reason one with another, and it really is the safest bet in everyone’s interest.  If the leaders knew where to meet the youth, dialogue would have prevailed over the mass protest sweeping across the land. Change is upon us and our leaders cannot claim ignorance any longer, they need to support and adjust to the change.

To ask young people not to protest but to go home and stop watching satellite television shows a high level of ignorance. In this web age, we do not necessarily need this medium to get information; there are several media and our leaders need to be updated. Ignorance it seems pushes us to test the principle of walking on water without faith. And here is the greed in human nature: our leaders test their ability to lead a people who are done following.

It is pertinent that we learn now and at once that change is constant. Where this fact is concerned, emphasis and repetition has failed to enlighten. We cannot behave like dogs that need constant training to adapt to learning and instruction, but if this is a problem God himself must deal with, then who am I not repeat over and over again that change is inevitable? Today we are under, tomorrow we lead. What are the options we have? Do we follow the lead of our antecedents or do we create positive changes for the next generation?

This age of awareness is not calling for repressive governments, for terror, for intolerance or corruption amongst leaders. The web lends power to the people. It gives access to information and there is no one who can tell that his peers are doing well abroad, no one who knows that he has the opportunity to do well at home that will submit to the lie of lack of resources. 

Awareness – our leaders need to adjust with the times and learn to be proactive and not reactive.

You cannot lay food before a starved child and expect him not to eat, in Africa we respectfully wait for the elders to eat first but do not dare think to finish the food.