Maravi

There’s a serious leadership crisis, observes Kabanda

There’s a serious leadership crisis, observes Kabanda
By Ernest Chanda
Mon 28 June 2010, 05:10 CAT

CITIZENS Forum executive secretary Simon Kabanda has observed that there is a serious leadership crisis in the nation. In an interview yesterday, Kabanda said most of the people serving and those aspiring for leadership did not show servanthood.

He said the country had plenty of resources but there were no leaders to explore and use them effectively for the benefit of all citizens.

“The issue of leadership has always been a source of concern in this country. We have a crisis of serious leadership because we do not have leaders who are selfless, leaders who consider themselves as servants. Most of them are in leadership to fill up their pockets, and even the majority of those aspiring for the same leadership are thinking of enriching themselves. So, it is really a worrisome situation where the electorate are left to wonder what to do,” Kabanda said.

“This country has abundant resources that could be used effectively and distributed equally among all citizens. But at the moment, we do not have people with brains to make good use of these resources. For example, upon being elected and re-elected to the National Assembly in 2006, the first thing our parliamentarians did was to increase their car loans from US$45,000 to US$57,000.

In 2009 they gave themselves what they called mid-term gratuities. This is all but to amass wealth for themselves even before they served people who sent them to Parliament. And you will find the same leaders seeking the people’s vote in 2011.”

Kabanda defined a leader as one who is a servant of the people rather than a master.
“A leader should be tolerant of those he serves, even amidst severe criticism. A leader should always remember that he is a servant and not a master.

A leader should endure difficult circumstances on behalf of his people and should show love and respect in all that he does. And above all, a leader should uphold the dignity of others and show compassion when circumstances arise. Anything far short of such qualities is not selfless leadership,” he said.

Asked what Zambians should do to enhance the quality of leadership in the country, Kabanda called for an improvement in legislation.

“We need to strengthen our laws; we need to have laws that will empower us to pass a vote of no confidence in leaders that don’t deliver.

We also need to have a law that should give leaders a time frame within which to deliver, failure to which they should be chucked out immediately. And, I think we should also stop looking at faces, but people’s qualities and ability to be servants. In this way, we shall come up with selfless leaders, leaders that will serve us with humility,” said Kabanda.

Labels: LEADERSHIP, SIMON KABANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:25 PM