A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Over several years of independence, most African countries appear not to have made the anticipated political progress. This has led to underachievement in almost all other sectors of the economy. The vehicle for Africa’s development is neither in the acquisition of political and/or economic power which sadly is the cause of most of the crisis in Africa, nor in the attraction of sympathy from the Industrialised nations, but in the development of an entrepreneurial mind that will affect the use of such powers and goodwill in reengineering the African Enterprise. It is worthwhile recommending that the political reform in Africa should be directed at promoting political entrepreneurship, which increasingly seeks for competitiveness, innovativeness and creativeness.

Our great success as a continent sets us up for decline as is always the case; we are not exempt from the patterns of history. Our problems are many: energy, education, health care, global warming, globalization, immigration, social security, an economic downturn, and our international relationships. The thinking that gave us continual progress in the past does not solve our problems today.
br>Our continent is in dire need of transformational and visionary political leaders.

It was Claude Ake (1996), the late political science icon, who posited that “by all indications, political conditions in Africa are the greatest impediment to development”. This statement when critically examined narrows down to one fundamental issue – the issue and essence of leadership in Africa.

Leadership is, no doubt, a key factor in the whole gamut of public administration and the management of societal affairs. In the light of this, Africa’s lack of capacity in terms of the attainment of effective governance that addresses the issues of corruption, human rights abuse, and mobilisation of human and material resources for sustainable development is generally traced to leadership failure.

After the attainment of independence, most African countries’ abundant human and mineral resources are yet to be significantly harnessed to combat the impoverishment of ordinary Africans. Despite the oil wealth, the majority of African countries still live in penury. This explains the paradoxical nature of the country where there is a lack in the midst of plenty.

On the whole, African continent stands in between exhibiting attributes of state collapse and state failure. All thanks to the weak political leadership exemplified by the ruling elites who regard politics as an avenue to maintain their economic dominance and to sustain their business empires–a clear picture of politics without an agenda.

Due to the character of the political elites who have a limited understanding of what governance requires, democracy has not yielded the expected results. Indeed, once a political arrangement is dominated by visionless leaders, the country would perpetually struggle to attain peace and development.

This is the reason it has become challenging to eradicate impoverishment and unemployment, engage in infrastructural development, and stem the tides of insurgency and terrorism, which derails the country’s moderate political development. For how long can the country’s economy endure the various excruciating pains it has persistently encountered in the hands of these visionless leaders?

Societies rise and fall on the altar of leadership. Given this, Africa needs a political reform – one that would pursue the eradication of underdevelopment, exploitation, and dependence. A reform that should be directed at promoting political entrepreneurship and leadership, which increasingly seeks innovation and creativity. Suffice to mention that successive governments in Africa lack the political will to initiate or sustain policy or structural transformation, or to embark on sound economic reform to reposition the state for greatness.

We launch the Africa’s first institute on Political Entrepreneurship and Leadership and several people zealously requested to know who a political entrepreneur is, and possibly their attributes. For several decades, Africans have continued to endure the ravages of bad governance unleashed on them by politicians and political officeholders. Unfortunately, many of these politicians lack track records of achievements and professional accomplishments other than that they are political godfathers, and founding members of political parties.

The indifferent attitudes of most Africans, including intellectuals in academia and industry in politics, have worsened the precarious situation. Consequently, Africa as a continent has been badly wounded, and Africans as a people have been rendered hopeless, helpless, and hapless socially, economically, and politically. To put the country back on track, I am bold to say that the President, Ministers, Lawmakers, Governors, Commissioners, Local Government Chairmen and other public servants we need must be political entrepreneurs.

Right from independence, the politicians and public officeholders have consistently failed to deliver the dividends of democracy because those vested with the machinery of government are not political entrepreneurs. What we have always celebrated are politicians who play religious politics, ethnic politics, politics of the belly, and politics of mediocrity! The raging questions that people asked are ‘who is a political entrepreneur? What are the attributes of a political entrepreneur? What is the future agenda with or without political entrepreneurs?’

Who is a political entrepreneur? There are many diverse definitions of political entrepreneurship. For this purpose, I share two definitions with the esteemed readers. First, McCaffrey & Salerno (2011) defined political entrepreneurs as gifted and exceptional people who perform the same functions as entrepreneurs in the political sphere within the free market economy. Second, political entrepreneurs are politicians with exceptional behaviourial actions, such as displaying social acuity (ability to hear, see, or think accurately and clearly), building teams, defining problems, and leading by example, and they leverage their relational power and political capital to provide quality governance to citizens (Christopoulos & Ingold, 2011).

The foregoing definitions suggest that to have an enduring socio-economic and political development in Africa, the political system, political parties, and electorate need to bring into the political sphere successful entrepreneurs, seasoned administrators, academics and captains of the industry within and those in the Diaspora to use their exceptional entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and competencies to reengineer, reshape and reposition Africa as they did in the industry.

What are the attributes of political entrepreneurs? The 10 attributes of political entrepreneurs include, among others, high intellectual ability, good knowledge of their domain, team building skills, good reputation, extensive networks, strategic vision and tenacity, different incentive structures for control of political power, networks within which they thrive, ability to bear risks and use their networks to mitigate risks, and they are agenda setters in the policy environment (Christopoulos, 2006).

Therefore, there is a need for a new generation of political entrepreneurs who will develop new ideas, technologies, policies, visions, and civic actions to ensure that the advances in science and technology translate into prosperity for our state. Given that the trust in the present political institutions has decreased, and many people are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo, we should encourage creativity and innovation- hence, the need for the emergence of political entrepreneurs.

Political entrepreneurs are professionals who create ideas and innovations, and who move into the political arena and act as new leaders in the field of politics. They are individuals and groups who seek to improve the science and art of politics through praxis – less talk (promises/policy making) and more action (policy implementation).

To build this new generation of political entrepreneurs, there must be an institute like ACAPEnt to prepare youth, emerging leaders and present political leaders to enter public life in an informed, educated, understanding, ethical ways and to start public engagement for leadership, by exploring, developing and promoting the ethical principles, world standards and practices that underlie transformational entrepreneurship and leadership for sustainable development.

Such leaders have the ability to connect with the hopes and dreams of people and make them real. They inspire belief in a new idea or vision, they mobilise people around that idea, and they create a movement that takes us places we’ve never been before. They do not buy votes with false promises.

The Institute for Political Entrepreneurship and Leadership, with the vision to create visionary leaders for inclusive and sustainable prosperity, has as its motto: Excellence, Integrity and Political Responsibility – a goal that will be pursued in the formation, initiation, and training of a new generation of leaders.

We seek to provide those who will participate in the various programmes the opportunity to pursue their aspirations in politics, public administration, civic leadership, etc., and to have a real and positive impact in the consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, and social well-being.

I hope that this project will remain a point of reference in terms of the perspective gained on the public sphere, politics, and leadership, for many generations to come.