Martin Minns
3 November 2009
opinion
Leadership, as a dictionary definition I read described it, is "the ability to guide, direct or influence people". Dwight D. Eisenhower, former US president and Supreme Allied Commander at the end of the Second World War -- a man who presumably knew a thing or two about leadership -- knew what it was not.
"You do not lead by hitting people over the head," he said. "That's assault, not leadership." Sarcastically, one wag once said "leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it."
But is it really possible to define such an elusive concept as leadership? Do we need to? Do we not all know leadership when we see it? Do we not know the qualities that we define as those belonging to a leader when we witness them?
I raise these questions because surely good leadership, in all its forms, is as essential to Kenya's future, to its prosperity and the well-being of its people, as is the rain that mercifully is falling as I write. Without it, Vision 2030 will remain just that -- a vision, and the African Renaissance a pipe dream.
It is important to stress that when talking of leadership I do not just mean political leadership but leadership as it can be demonstrated in all walks of life -- in the home, the work place and the community, from the boardroom to the classroom, to the playing field.
And the responsibility to lead at all levels of society, to develop and enact leadership that is suited to the tasks facing Kenya now and those to be encountered in the future, and with it the development of a new generation of leaders whose purpose is to transform Africa not into something it isn't but what it could be, must now rest in great measure on the shoulders of young people.
It is for this reason that the Mbegu Trust, a Nairobi-based charitable organisation that supports the development of education and opportunity in Kenya, has launched a competition on the theme of leadership entitled Lead On! (with, it must be publicly and gratefully acknowledged, the help of the Nation Media Group, the generosity of Kenol/Kobil, the project's chief sponsor, and the support of the Ministry of Education).
Open to all secondary school students in Kenya the Lead On! competition asks them to write an article on "the leadership we need to build the Kenya and Africa we want" and "how I can play a leading role".
The format is a four-page newspaper-style publication - The Young Kenyan Leader - 115,000 copies of which have been delivered to 3,771 schools.
Why is this project so important beyond being just an interesting, educational and hopefully fun competition for secondary students to take part in and win funds for their school?
Surely it is because good leadership is essential at all levels, from the national to the individual, if we are to thrive. Leadership is about vision, the ability to take decisions and the confidence to do so, and with leadership comes the need to take responsibility.
Inspire young Kenyans to achieve this and we will help to empower a generation, help them take control of their lives, set them free as individuals and improve the world we live in.
Young Kenyan Leader will pose questions: What is leadership? Is there a new concept of leadership required or emerging in Kenya? Is there an African dimension to leadership? Are you a leader and if so, in what way do you see yourself fulfilling a role as a leader in future? We hope to inspire thought, create debate, and even provoke a response that might lead students to reach their own conclusions.
This is not just some academic debate. Joe Kadhi, a former Nation editor and a wise old owl if ever there was one, hit the nail on the head.
Writing in The Young Kenyan Leader, he said: "This is not just a theoretical debate about some abstract concept, about some other place, some other time and about someone else. It is about understanding leadership and how it can transform, in a practical way, the world we live in; it is about our time and our future; and it is about each one of us and what we can do as individuals."
In 2008 the Mbegu Trust asked secondary school students to write a letter to either of the presidential hopefuls in the US election. Over 14,000 did so.
Then Senator Barack Obama inspired not only his nation and much of the world, and went on to win the presidency. "Yes we can," he said, and he did. You too, can.
Mr Minns is projector coordinator, Mbegu Trust
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