Democratic Lessons In Leadership From Kenya..(By Anthony Ubani )

I was thoroughly amused last week by an interesting news report about Kenyans protesting over their parliamentarians’ salary. According to the Aljazeera online News report, Kenyan Parliamentarians who are already considered to be one of the ‘highest paid in the world’, defied pleas from President Uhuru Kenyatta and went ahead to boost their pay from 532,000 Shillings ($6,300) back to 851,000 Shillings ($10,000) a month, returning it to the rate it had been before a cut of almost 40 percent was put in place under the previous parliament. However, following intense public anger and protest, the legislators backed down and agreed to retain their monthly salary of 532,000 Shillings which is approximately N1,000,000 a month in Nigerian currency. 

Now, I am sure that at this point, the average Nigerian reading this piece will most probably be rolling uncontrollably in laughter. Did that report actually claim that the Kenyan Parliamentarians are one of the highest paid in the world? In which world? Did the Aljazeera reporter include Nigerian legislators in his analyses of monthly pay cheques of legislators across the globe? I am quite sure he did not. Actually the reporter, just did a random comparison with the monthly pay of French legislators.

The comic irony of the Kenyan story becomes obvious when you consider that back home here in Nigeria, according to a Sahara Report, a national legislator “earns at least $100,000 (approximately N16 million naira) a month in salary and allowances. Arguably, the highest anywhere on planet earth.” Quite frankly, the monthly take-home pay of a Kenyan Parliamentarian, compared to that of their Nigerian counterpart, is no more than lunch money.

But beyond the amusement generated by the claims in the Kenyan parliamentarian story, there are more sublime and indeed more useful lessons that we should glean from it. Lessons in effective leadership and followership in a democracy. The first important point of note is that the newly sworn in President Uhuru Kenyatta has moved quickly to arrest excessive public spending by instituting a regime of fiscal prudence backed with common sense austerity measures that will hopefully combine to return the faltering Kenyan economy to better health. Leadership lesson one in a democracy, the leader must define a clear vision and persuasively sell it to the people.  The leader shows the way, points the way and leads the way. Of course, it is a trite fact that nations perish for lack of vision. Democracy itself as a governance system is built on the premise of the consensus of the majority. It therefore behoves the leader to define and articulate a clear vision; determine a creative and persuasive strategy to build majority support and consensus around that vision; then recruit competent hands to help drive and execute the vision.   

Closely aligned to lesson one, is the underlying message of personal responsibility and example that undergirds effective leadership. When President Uhuru Kenyatta defined an economic vision that included a reduction in public wages, he started with himself by promising to accept whatever cuts to his salary that is determined by the Kenyan Salaries and Remuneration Commission. Having done that, the President moved to persuade members of parliament to follow suit and accept a pay cut. Leadership lesson two, at the heart of every effective leadership is a strong sense of personal responsibility and example. There is nothing more powerful than a worthy personal example. A leader who demands his staff to come to work by 8am every work day but arrives himself between 10 and 11am everyday will not achieve much success in terms of instilling the character of punctuality in his staff. Leadership and responsibility must always begin from the top and must be by example.  It’s not enough for our leaders to tell us to tighten our belts so we can save for the rainy day while they continue to live ostentatiously at tax payers’ expense. Effective leadership in a democracy is therefore the one that proceeds by example. The leader practices what he preaches and it becomes easy for others to follow his example.

The third leadership lesson we glean from the Kenyan story is probably the most important, effective followership engenders effective leadership. Oftentimes, citizens, particularly in poor and developing third world countries, see themselves as helpless and hapless folks whose duty is to just obey laws, work, pay taxes and take whatever the ogas at the top dish out. In reality, the most critical element in effective leadership in a democracy is effective followership. In the above story, Kenyan citizens did not just murmur, fold their hands and sit idly by while the Kenyan Parliamentarians refused to take a pay cut and proceeded to increase their salaries. Kenyan citizens took to the streets in peaceful public protest to strongly demand that the parliamentarians rescind the salary increase and take a pay cut. They made their voices heard and refused to back down until their demands were met.

Now, that is what I call effective followership. Citizens must learn that their job in a democracy does not end with their vote. They must continue to remain engaged, proactively participate in the process of governance and hold elected public officials to public scrutiny and accountability. This is the missing link in our democracy in Nigeria today. Citizens, for the most part, talk, murmur, gossip and complain in beer parlours and then go home to sleep and the beat goes on. Even civil society groups don’t do much more than delivering speeches, writing beautiful articles and reports. Unless and until citizens learn to engage and participate effectively in the democratic process, Nigeria will continue to suffer the seamy consequences of a chronic deficit in leadership in all sectors of our polity.

The point here is that the perennial challenge of leadership in Nigeria is undergirded by a debilitating lack of effective followership. A weak, indifferent and unengaged followership is a prerequisite for a corrupt, inept and irresponsible leadership. Mathematically, the leadership equation works out thus: Weak and ineffective followership equals weak, corrupt, unproductive and unaccountable leadership. Strong and effective followership equals strong, effective, productive and accountable leadership. From this, it is abundantly clear that in the leadership matrix, the followers are king and they determine what type of leadership they get.

The last leadership lesson from our story above is that public office is for service and sacrifice not for luxury and laxity. Those who choose a career in public service, particularly, elected officials at all levels must understand they hold their positions in trust on behalf of ordinary citizens. Therefore, the best interest of citizens must be their number one priority at all times. So when citizen’s rise in popular protest to reject a particular policy or program, public officials have a responsibility under a democracy to quickly and humbly retrace their steps in deference to their boss – law abiding and tax paying citizens.

Anthony Ubani is Deputy Chancellor Africa Business School,Abuja Nigeria