Picture credit: Bible Society / Andrew Boyd
‘We have become acquainted with the bad smell in the room,’ Dr Victor Manyim told Christian leaders at ABLI in Cameroon.
Referring to poor standards and low expectations in Africa, he said: ‘I looked around me today and I saw workers without shoes and toilets without paper. I don’t see excellence.’
Dr Manyim is the Director of the International Leadership Foundation, Cameroon. He warned that pursuing change for good in Africa would mean a rejection of the status quo. And that can be costly: ‘Engagement requires a willingness to pay the price.’
‘The risk is that you speak the truth and risk your life,’ added Professor Mumo Kisau, Board Chair of the Bible Society of Kenya.
Said Dr Manyim: ‘As leaders, we need to pursue excellence. And we must engage the people. The fight is so fierce you will never achieve victory alone.
‘You need your people. Leaders need to be a fertiliser, to make the people grow, make them positive, and to teach them to give.’
Dr Manyim said true leadership was a process of strategy, action and influence. He was speaking at the African Biblical Leadership Initiative (ABLI Forum), an initiative of Bible Society.
Picture credit: Bible Society / Andrew Boyd
Andrew Boyd
