Maravi

Selfishness in leadership

Selfishness in leadership
Written by Editor

NOT every person who has been voted into public office is a leader.There are very few of our councillors, members of parliament and even presidents who can be said to be leaders in the true sense of the word. Strictly speaking, most of these people cannot be said to be representatives of the people.

They are simply representing themselves, their own interests.

And we recently saw it. The first act of our new government, the government of Rupiah Banda was to increase their own salaries and other benefits. Their first concern was not to serve the people. It was how much they got out of being in politics, in government and how quickly they did so.

At a time when the country is losing so many jobs and plagued by all sorts of difficulties, the only discernable preoccupation of our politicians in government is to furnish their new homes and offices and to buy themselves expensive 4x4 automobiles. This is not with personal money. It is with taxpayers' money.

Very few of our politicians can be said to be in politics out of a desire for public service, to serve their fellow citizens. Just look around at your politicians both in Parliament and in government and critically examine their primary motivation for being in politics or in government. For most of them, you will discover that they are in politics and in government because they had no jobs, or these are the most well paying jobs they can get. Others may be in politics or government because of ambition or pleasure and not to fulfil a duty to their fellow citizens. They are not there to serve the people.

Michael Sata is right when he says that selfless leadership is the only path through which Zambia will attain the necessary prosperity. We also agree with Sata when he says that Zambia is not going anywhere without transforming its politics by imparting attributes of servant leadership. Sata says Dr Kenneth Kaunda developed this country to where it is today because of selflessness, servant leadership. KK's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his boundless sense of responsibility in his work and his boundless commitment to the interests and protection of the most downtrodden. Every politician of this country must learn from him. They must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from KK. With this spirit, every politician in this country can be very useful to people. A politician's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit - the spirit of KK - he is already noble-minded and pure, a politician of moral integrity and above vulgar interest, a politician who is of value to the people.

Every politician should strive to serve the people whole-heartedly and never for a moment divorce himself from the masses of our people, and should proceed in all cases from the interest of the people and not from one's self-interest or from the interest of a small group.

Our politicians today seem to think of nothing but themselves, their own pockets and stomachs. These are not leaders. They are simply political mercenaries, crooks, bandits out to rape and loot the people. They are in politics and they are in government for very little else but to make money, acquire land easily and extend all sorts of favours to their friends and themselves or their agents. These are not leaders even if we call them leaders. They are something else but not leaders. Just look to your ministers one by one! How many of these can you say are leaders who are out to serve the people?

All our politicians are supposed to be servants of the people and whatever they do is supposed to be in the service of the people. Their duty is supposed to be to hold themselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy of theirs should conform to the people's interest. They should have the interest of the people and the sufferings of the great majority at heart.

A true leader, a good leader should have largeness of mind and should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the people as his very life and subordinating his personal interest to those of the people. And he should be more concerned about the people than about any individual, and more concerned about others than about himself. Only thus can he be considered a true leader, a good leader.

Every politician must be brought to understand that the supreme test of the words and deeds of the leader is whether they conform with the highest interest of the overwhelming majority of the people. At no time and in no circumstances should he place his personal interest first; he should subordinate them in the interest of the nation and the masses of our people. Hence, selfishness, slacking, corruption and so on and so forth are most contemptible, while selflessness, working with all one's energy, whole-hearted devotion to public duty, quiet hard work should command respect.

True and serious political leaders must be ready at all times to stand up for the truth because truth is in the interest of the people. They should set an example in being honest, selfless, practical as well as far-sighted. For only in being so can they fulfil their duty to our people. They must be the most self-sacrificing, the most resolute and the least prejudiced in sizing up to situations, and should rely on the majority of our masses and win their support. The exemplary role of political leaders is of vital importance.

It is impossible to build a true democracy with selfish political leaders. True democracy requires selfless leadership. We say this because true democracy is a growth in the confidence in the power of ordinary people to transform their country, and thus transform themselves. It is a growth in the appreciation of people organising, deciding, creating together. It is a growth of fraternal love. And there cannot be fraternal love where selfishness, vanity and greed is the primary motivation in political leadership. A selfless leadership is needed to guide the energies of all towards the common good. And we are guided by the Bible: "Whoever wishes to be the first among you must be slave of all" (Mk 10:14).

What our people are seeking is genuine democracy in which the leaders are servants of the electorate and not its masters. And this country will only move forward when we have intelligent, honest and humble political leaders who see politics as a vocation to serve the people and not an opportunity to enrich oneself, to rape the people and rob them of their poor country's very limited resources. No one deserves to be called a political leader or to be in government unless they love their country and its people more than themselves. We say this because politics is an area of great importance for promoting justice, peace, development and community among all. Politics is a way of building up society for the common good. When people think only of themselves, nothing much will be achieved because divisions and frustrations will set in. It is said that it is not hatred alone which is contrary to the laws of charity but also indifference to the welfare of our neighbour. Solidarity is a basic fact of human existence. No person is an island, cut off from others and self-sufficient. And the African proverb says: "I am because we are, and we are because I am."

It is therefore of great importance that those who offer themselves of political leadership do so not out of selfish interest, but out of a genuine desire to serve others, to be servants of their people.

Labels: GOVERNANCE, LEADERSHIP, RUPIAH BANDA, SATA

posted by MrK @ 9:22 AM