Africa lacks good leaders – Chibamba

Africa lacks good leaders – Chibamba
By Mwila Chansa
Mon 18 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

AFRICA has remained poor largely because the continent lacks leaders dedicated to the service of their peoples and countries, Service Above Self author Mulenga Chibamba has said.

In an interview in Kitwe yesterday, Chibamba said most African leaders were not prepared to do everything in their power to serve the interests of their people. He explained that the focus in his latest book: Service Above Self, was a message to African leaders to realise that a person could never be considered as a leader if they were not prepared to serve the interests of their people.

“Africa today is poorer than she was under colonialism. The question is: 'of what value is Africa's independence?'”

Chibamba said poverty and retrogression was the order of the day in most African states and that the trend was as a result of lack of leadership in most African states.

He applauded leaders such as Zambia's first president Dr Kenneth Kaunda and late former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere for their personal contribution to the freedom and well-being of other people.

Chibamba also praised former South African president Nelson Mandela and Iranian founding father Imam Khomeini for their personal commitment and dedication towards the service of their people and countries.

“Imam and Mandela valued the freedom of their people to the extent that each was prepared to pay with his own life for the freedom of his people,” said Chibamba.

And Chibamba charged that the reading culture was almost non-existent in Zambia because leaders did not value education.
He also said public libraries lacked books because no one paid attention to them.