First Former Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Francis Short, has called for conscious efforts by the current generation to imbue good moral values and leadership principles in youth to be good future leaders that will transform this country.
According to him, while it is obvious the current generation of leadership in the country and continent at large has glorified unexplained affluence and condoned corruption, it is important to change the narrative for future generations by teaching the youth to uphold strong moral values, be patriotic and stand for the truth no matter the situation.
“One of the most important values in leadership is integrity. In present-day Ghana, most of the youth lack leadership values, so it is important for current leaders to make that conscious effort to mold them to become good leaders that will transform the future of this country.
“To be able to exhibit certain values and norms and uphold integrity irrespective of the consequences, one will have to pay the cost in leadership – and that is something that we have to let the youth understand,” he said.
The former Commissioner made these remarks while speaking to the media on the sidelines of the launch of Taaka Awori’s book titled ‘Leadership in Africa Redefined; Untold Stories’.
“It is a book that I highly recommend all and sundry to read, digest and imbibe all the principles that have been elucidated in the book. It is a good book on leadership, and every leader must endeavour to read it,” he said.
The book is divided into three parts and 15 chapters, and provides deep insights into different types of leadership models, while explaining why deliberate efforts must be made to produce next-generation leaders that are ready to pay the price and serve their people competently with all honesty.
Part-one talks about ‘leading self’. It elaborates on knowing one’s self, standing by values, consistency with the values, and readiness to embrace failure and build resilience among others.
Part-two focuses on leading others – thus, how to understand, value, empower and hold others accountable, and so forth. Meanwhile, part-three delves into ‘leadership in bigger spaces’ with a focus on transformative and inclusive leadership.
The writer used the leadership styles and experiences of about 30 top-level leaders who excelled in their roles as leaders as examples, and included their stories from personal-account perspectives.
Notable among them are Monica Geingos, Namibian entrepreneur, lawyer and First Lady of Namibia since 2015; Justice Emile Short; Akilagpa Sawyerr, former vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana and also a former president of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences; Magdalena Moshie; Siphokazi Mthathi, a feminist social justice leader in Southern Africa; Bernard Avle, a journalist in Ghana, among several others.
The Author and CEO of Busara Africa, Taaka Awori, in her remarks stressed that the baton will soon be passed onto the next generation of leaders; and considering the inequalities, security threats, economic hardship and other challenges befalling the continent, without imbibing strong leadership values and principles the next generation will suffer more than what is experienced now.
“Mostly, leadership material in Africa is written and defined by those in the western world; and so we need leadership material that will speak to our context and provide practical models on how to lead well in Africa, and that is the motive of this book,” she said.
While agreeing that the continent is faced with several bad leadership challenges at the highest level, she emphasised that some good ones must be talked about for the next-generation to emulate.
