My vision is to ensure that my
twenty-one-year pregnancy for Africa gives birth to young and dynamic visionary
leaders that will elicit new political ideology, educational growth, industrial
advancement, political stability, provision of constant supply of
electricity and security among other dividends of good governance
for an enviable continent where other peoples of the world would want to
reside.
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| Tunde Eso |
In 2013, I put together in my book Vision for
Africa my thoughts to awaken the consciousness of progressive minded youths in
Africa towards taking their destinies in their hands politically, economically
and socially by using the principles of the new system of government that I
refer to as Youthocracy which is a “government of the people, by the youth and
for the people” Youthocracy is majorly to ensure leadership shift for pragmatic
development in Africa and the rest of the world.
It is right to say that the quality of leadership
is important for Africa to rise up and take its rightful place. Objectively,
Youthocracy will be a driving strategy to attaining lasting development through
the injection of new political ideology by the youth.
Africans should liberate themselves from the
primitive thought of embracing rotational system of government that
yields tribal and endemic political control of power.
Conversely, having painstakingly studied
political strategies in Africa, I discovered that Africa has three groups of
leaders that have been presented within three generations. Generation one:
Those that led in the 50s and 60s, like Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Obafemi
Awolowo of Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. The
legacies they left was that they fought for independence. They freed us from
colonialism and were commended for their efforts. They were followed by
generation two that wreaked havoc on the continent. One hero said, if one
thinks of fighting corruption, human rights abuses, mismanagement of public
funds they became champions and stereotypes of African leaders the West makes
reference to today. He said that generation had moved on and have been replaced
by generation three with the likes of late Nelson Mandela of South Africa. He
is not saying they are perfect but have helped to clean up much of the mess of
generation two. For stopping the fight and improving macroeconomic policies, he
described them as the stabilizer generation.
Presently, Africa’s increasing wealth and
economic liberation has brought up a new breed of businessmen that do not
rely on political connections and thus are able to raise their voices against
abuses in their country in the likes of Aliko Dangote, Folorunsho Alakija and
Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese billionaire philanthropist.
I am not happy as Africa has for about
four decades become a laughing stock among comity of nations; some of its
leaders are more than 90 years while others are just beginning new terms
in office. Where do they want to lead the continent to?
Most African leaders are by nature greedy for
power. It has become obvious that the external influence which was thought to
be responsible for the misbehavior of African leaders was in fact not
responsible for Africa’s misfortune over leadership.
What are the factors
behind this irrational quest for power
and the unwillingness to relinquish
same? Insecurity of life outside power,
economic gains, political influence and more are
some of the factors that have kept
genuine democracy away from most African
countries. Without these and other factors,
what else could have made Laurent
Gbagbo of Ivory Coast cling to power
until his disgraceful removal even when
the whole world acknowledged that he lost
re-election through free and fair
election? What else could have kept Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi in power for 42
years until his country came under rebel attacks
and no fly zone imposed by allied forces?
The style of leadership
in Gabon and Togo has been that of dynasty
by two families and there are many examples
of sit-tight dictators in Africa.
Few examples of such leaders readily come to
mind.
Felix Houphouet-Boigny was President of Cote
d’Ivoire for 33 years. At his death, he was the third longest serving
head of state in the world, after Fidel Castro of Cuba and Kim II Sung of North
Korea. He was the first President of Cote d’Ivoire, and died in office as
president.
At over 80 years old, he was reported to have
said: “I refuse to grow old, so that I can serve my country and Africa.”
Yamoussoukro was Houphouet-Boigny’s village; he attempted to replace Abidjan
with it as the nation’s capital. A lot of money was sunk into the
fruitless exercise. It was only after his death that the capital was
transferred back to Abidjan.
Gnassingbe Eyadema was president of Togo for
38 years. He came in through a coup d’état and refused to leave until his
death. Eyadema ran Togo as a personal estate. He made his mother
the mother of the nation and made her birthday a national day. Under him,
Togo was militarized. An entourage of 1000 beautiful women sang his
praises everywhere, as did highly indoctrinated school children. When you
heard a siren in the streets of Lome, you must drop whatever you were doing and
clap ecstatically, on the understanding that it must be the president passing
by. Eyadema ruled Togo as a ruthless dictator. If you opposed him, you are
likely to be killed.
Muammar Gaddafi was the leader of Libya for
42 years; which made him Africa’s longest serving head of state. Once he
seized power through a coup d’état in 1969, he had no intention of
relinquishing it. He held on to it until he was killed by his own people
in 2011.
The leadership of Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor,
both of Liberia and Idi Amin of Uganda went the same way. The same thing with
former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, who
spent 23 years (1988 – 2011), he dictated the tunes;
Tunisians danced for 23 years until he was
deposed by the new political wave
that pervaded the Arab world; Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had
30 years (1981 – 2011) before Egyptians kicked him out of office. Many of them
did not see the possible continuous existence of their countries beyond their
leadership.
There are 54 independent countries in Africa
and 90 percent of their presidents are between the age 70 and 95. Here are some
of them, their country and age as at 2017.
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe (37years - since
1980), Robert Mugabe, 93, has been in power for 37 years. He had just
unwillingly stepped down as president though negotiations with the army.
President Mohammed Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria became the country
president at the age of 72.He is regarded as the oldest person to become
Nigeria's President; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became President of Liberia at age
70 in 2006. She is currently 81; Jacob Zuma of South Africa is 75 years old.
President Peter Mutharika of Malawi was 74 when he was sworn in on 31 May,
2014. He will be president till 2019 at 79 years, President Alpha Conde of
Guinea is now 77 years old and he was sworn-in in December 2011 at 72 years,
President Jose Eduardo Santos of Angola is 72 years
And he will be president till 2020 at 78
years; President Abde Bourtefilka of Algeria is 77 years old and will be in
office till 2020 at 83 years old, President Alasanne Quattara of Ivory Coast
was 72 years in 2012, and will be President till 2016 at 76 years.
Conversely, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has
been president since 1985. He won another seven year term in 2013 at 77 years,
and will be president till 2020 at 84. President Jose Mujiaga of Uruguay was 75
years old when elected. He is now 79 years. President Tedoro Oblang Nguema
Mbasogo, Equatorial Guinea, was born January 6, 1942. He is 72 years and still
going on.
President Michael Sata, Zambia, is 77
years-old. He became president September 23, 2011 at 74, and will rule till
2016 when he will be 79. President Paul Biya of Cameroon is 81 years old. He
will be in office till 2017 at age 84 years.
Every progressive minded young African should
be angry about the gerontocratic nature of our governance. But that is not
enough, the youth must also wake up from their slumber because power is not
easily attained; one must struggle for it. Power will not get to the youth on a
platter of gold. They must come out of their cocoons and begin to make
sacrifices in search for power.
From the analysis I have made and for the
youth to identify themselves with the quest to do away with capitalism Abraham
Lincoln coined Democracy for people to identify with. For the youth to identify
with, I have coined a new system of government known as Youthocracy which is a
system of government of the people, by the youth and for the people, that will
entrench the reign of the youth in Africa which the world can emulate for
the benefit of mankind.
We must all pay attention to grooming the set
of generation of youthful leadership in a strategic succession plan for
Youthocracy to ensure pragmatic development through leadership generational
shift in Africa.
The content of my book is an article of
truth, which should be adhered to as a new philosophy that will entrench true
democracy in Africa and make Africa a better place for all nations.
The book contains the vision I have for
Africa and the rest of the world. Youthocracy invariably means government will
be controlled by the youths for freedom, liberty and socio-political and
economic well-being of the people. This is much like democracy. The difference
is that youths will be the key players in the helm of affairs to inject new
ideology and development.
By Tunde Eso,2018 Osun State Governorship
Aspirant,
Author, Vision for Africa and African
Security Solution
+2348038272210
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