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Introductory Remarks
at the 2nd Africa Governance, Leadership and Management Convention 2011
3rd August 2011
Sarova Whitesands, Mombasa
By
Ayodele Aderinwale, MFR
Your Excellency, President Mwai Kibaki ably represented by H.E Vice President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoki,
Your Excellency, President Olusegun Obasanjo
Your Excellency President Thabo Mbeki,
Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic corps,
Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished delegates,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen
Although I do realize that our gathering here today is not for tales by moonlight, I crave your indulgence to let me share with you three stories.
The first, a greek mythology is about Xenophon. Xenaphon was a Greek historian and military hero who rose to leadership during the battle of Cunaxa. There he fought, side by side, with Cyrus against the great Persian King Artaxerxes.
Legend has it that Cyrus was killed during this battle and his army was broken and chaos developed. Greatly outnumbered, such that all hope seemed lost, a voice off to the side of the troops started shouting orders, reorganizing the phalanx.
With great confidence and strategic reorganization, this new leader began to communicate tactics to which the troop gladly responded and dramatically the tide quickly turned in favor of the Greeks. Afterwards, one of the captains asked who it was who took charge and won the day for Greece. No one seemed to know who took the leadership at that precarious time. It was eventually discovered that one of the foot soldiers, Xenophon, performed the heroic deed. Xenophon exercised leadership and saved the day.
Fast forward to sometimes between 1969 and 1970, the battle between the Nigerian army and the dissident Biafran Army was raging. The third marine commando, a critical battalion in the Nigerian Army under the leadership of Col. Benjamin Adekunle – the black scorpion, was in complete disarray. Troops were disorganized, disillusioned and battle weary.
The then Commander in Chief, Major Gen. Yakubu Gowon needed a rescuer. For that it turned to a young 31 year old military officer from the army engineering corps, Col. Olusegun Obasanjo. Col. Obasanjo accepted responsibility, revamped the third marine commando, restored order, confidence, self-belief and then created an unbeatable fighting machine.
He launched “Operation Tail Wind”, which eventually brought an end to the war and accepted the Biafran surrender in January 1970 and thus stopped the suffering the war had unleashed on the people of Nigeria. The rest as they say is history.
Fast forward to the future. As Africa moved into the new millennium, at the helm of affairs in South Africa was President Thabo Mbeki. A natural leader, and philosopher king was a frontline participant in the deployment of strategic development initiatives in Africa.
Out of office, I say without fear of contradiction that Africa’s newest nation, the Republic of South Sudan owes its existence to the uncommon efforts of a great leader who struggled against the odds to help the people of Sudan resolve their age long differences. The Sudan conflict had defied all conflict management theories and peace keeping efforts. Through shuttle diplomacy powered by an uncommonly sagacious leadership, President Mbeki provided the missing link and thus helped stop the malignant war that had claimed millions of African lives and maimed several others.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen. Leadership remains central to the development of Africa. Like the battle of Cunaxa, it is the only foundation upon which our development agenda can be sustainably achieved. It is the magic wand capable of turning our several years of losses within the global political and economic environments into steady growth and development. Unless we wake-up the Xenophon in us from slumber and begin to address our leadership challenges, we would be groping in the dark, far away from our desired destination.
In our midst here are living legends and a confirmation of the fact that Africans are perfectly capable of exercising quality and unparalleled leadership even in the most invidious of circumstances. I do sincerely hope that our gathering here in Mombasa over the next two days would help subject the leadership challenges of development in Africa to debate and discussion that would power accelerated sustainable growth on the continent.
While we do not in any way intend to arrogate the powers of Xenophon to ourselves, the Africa Leadership Forum and the Kenya Institute of Management believe this partnership can serve as a wake – up call and a market place of tested and trusted ideas, strategies, mechanisms and best practices capable of strengthening the development agenda and can be easily replicated in various countries albeit within the frame of local realities and understanding.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentleman,
In the next two days, we will be seeking to provide answers to our present complex development questions most especially the seemingly peculiar challenges of leadership, governance and development.
In other not to make this, another round of talks with no action, we intend to develop strategic action plans and timelines for the implementation of the recommendations that will emanate from this convention. These recommendations will be widely circulated and made available to various governmental and non-governmental organisations across Africa as well as our development partners across the globe. We will collaborate and work with delegates from the public and private sectors, including the media towards the adoption of the resolutions as part of the continental development agenda to be mainstreamed at the sub-regional, national and local levels.
May I also add that the Africa Leadership Forum and Kenya Institute of Management partnership on this convention is in furtherance and in keeping faith with the dreams and ideals of our founding fathers by encouraging the diagnosis, understanding and informed search for solutions to local, regional and global problems, taking cognizance of their interrelationships and mutual consequences, involving both current and future leaders. It is also an attestation of our firm belief in intra-continental abilities and capacities to forge meaningful and mutually reinforcing partnerships for the acceleration of Africa’s development. It is a case of Africans for Africa.
Permit me at this juncture to express our appreciation of the immense support of the Kenyan Government through its various state organs. Most especially, we appreciate the presence of H.E Vice President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoki. In the same vein, we would like to thank H.E President Thabo Mbeki who graciously accepted our invitation without hesitation to be part of this convention. The Secretariat very importantly acknowledges the special guidance we have enjoyed from the Convention Patron, H.E Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. We thank you very much your Excellencies.
Let me also thank the United Nations Development Programme, through its Regional Bureau for Africa under the leadership of Dr. Tegegnework Gettu and its Kenya Country Office for its support towards this convention. My appreciation also goes to all our local partners for their support and of course our gratitude also goes to our Resource team and all delegates who have traveled from different parts of the globe to participate in this August convention. I have no doubt whatsoever, that we would have a wonderful convention.
Thank you for your attention.
Executive Director of the Africa Leadership Forum and Co-Convener 2nd Africa Governance, Leadership and Management Convention 2011
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