Picture credit: Bible Society / Mark Woods
Nigerian statesman Prof Jerry Gana has called on the leaders of African society to 'build a culture of love and compassionate care'.
The former Senator and government minister electrified the African Biblical Leadership Initiative (ABLI) conference in Kigali, Rwanda with a rousing call for political leaders to show integrity, courage and competence.
He praised Rwanda and its President Paul Kagame for the economic and social progress it has made since the genocide, saying: 'I celebrate Rwanda – a wonderful story of trauma to triumph, ashes to glory. The real thing that's happening is that God has raised leaders who care.'
Reflecting on the state of leadership in Africa, he told his audience that leaders needed to begin with a realistic understanding of human nature. He quoted British theologian John Stott, who said there was 'a painful ambiguity that attaches to everything human'; human beings are capable of great goodness but also great evil. Gana said there was a 'culture of cruelty in the world', and that there were 'those who enjoy making people suffer'. It's essential, he said, that leaders are transformed in their hearts and minds in order to stand against evil. 'In the final analysis the heart of man is desperately wicked,' he said.
So, he continued, Africans must 'build a culture of love and compassionate care'. The primary purpose of government is the welfare of ordinary people. 'Live for the people. Think about them, plan for them, care for them, so people can be secure.'
He urged the need for leaders with character and integrity, saying these were 'in short supply' in Africa. 'Leaders who become effective as healers take as their top priority the condition of the people,' he said. 'You can never go wrong if you have as a priority love for the people. Security and the wefare of the people have to be the primary purpose of government. If not, what are you governing for?'
He called on leaders to 'bear the fruit of the Spirit' in Galatians 5, saying, 'If you want to be healers, you must allow the fruit of the Spirit to be real in your life'.
Gana called on leaders to be courageous in taking decisions: 'If you don't have wisdom, ask God. If you're not decisive, you're caught in a paralysis of inaction, and nothing happens.
'Be courageous, be competent, be decisive. There is nothing more frustrating than leaders who don't have the capacity to perform.'
He concluded with a clarion call for democratic freedoms. 'If the way to elect leaders is through democracy, we have to stop rigging elections,' he said. 'When elections are rigged, tension is created and a lot of violence can follow. Do it right. Whoever wins, the other will rally round that person.'
Without naming them, he referred to countries where elections are 'won by one person again and again, even when the people have really rejected them. It's not good. There must be the sanctity of elections. Let it be free and fair, because that is the right thing to do.'
Mark Woods
