Free the leader: Arrest the politician

I love leaders. I hate politicians. I love Rwanda because it is a place where politics fail and leadership thrives; while politicians create conflict to advance selfish interests, leaders seek solutions to end conflicts and unite people towards achieving shared goals. Monday is Rwanda’s Liberation Day and a reflection on politics and leadership in context of the factors that caused the Genocide leads one to the conclusion that what happened here in 1994 was a result of politics having prevailed over leadership. By its very nature, politics thrives on conflict while leadership is more effective where there’s harmony. Indeed, in countries where politics thrive, there is an endless struggle among parties to capture power by dividing people based on ideology. Where politicians focus on the next election, leaders focus on the next generation. There is plenty to learn from military leadership; commanders work like shepherds; they guide their armies towards a common enemy. What politics would do to an army is create multiple enemies within the ranks and cause them to lose focus on the real target. In context, consider Rwandans as the constant factor in a development equation; first, we had a government that had more politicians than leaders and they turned the masses against each other in a Genocide that left over a million dead. It took exceptional leadership to organize an ill-equipped army that would finally defeat the politicians, stop the Genocide and liberate the nation. In the last twenty two years, leadership has been at play, reorganizing and uniting Rwandans into a nation building force. Rwanda at 22 teaches us that a human being is capable of both the worst and best depending on whose influence is at play. Under politicians, the worst was inspired out of the people. Under leaders, the best is being inspired out of a people whose focus is on nation building. This year’s liberation day theme, ‘Together we Prosper’ is a celebration of leadership’s triumph over politics; as a united people, Rwanda has prospered beyond what anyone could have imagined in 1995, in the face of the price of a divided people. Rwanda’s liberation story also holds a number of lessons for the world at a time when there is an acute global leadership deficit. Britain’s exit from Europe, in my view, was a sharp failure of leadership; the referendum offered a platform to politicians who appealed to people’s emotions rather than logic. No wonder, some Brits who voted to leave are now regretting their decision having realized that they were lied to by politicians who among other things claimed that exiting would not only make the British economy stronger but also recover some 350 million pounds that UK allegedly sends to EU every month. All these promises, it is now emerging were simply political statements whose owners are now denying responsibility while at the same time, changing rhetoric; but that is how politicians work, they never take responsibility for anything. Premier David Cameron is being praised by some for his decision to resign. To be fair, Cameron tried to offer leadership but failed at a time Brits needed his skills most; to lead the UK far away from a referendum not towards it; in a referendum, Cameron, led his sheep to poisonous fields. As former colonial master around the world, it is rather ironical that UK has failed to muster the same influence in the EU that it still enjoys over many of its former colonies. Europe’s current challenges such as terrorism, economic refugees and struggling economies are consequences of reckless global politics and a solution lies in strong global leadership. However, Britain’s failure to provide that global leadership is also an opportunity for a former Second World War villain, Germany, to rise as the new undisputed leader of Europe and a far more important ally to the USA because of its influence on the other EU members. With this shift in the global leadership status-quo, the United Nations must also evolve and adapt to these new developments; for instance, Britain and France, while important at the time of the UN establishment, have since lost their global clout and are less worthy of holding Veto powers. Germany is doing a great job at leading Europe to deal with effects of the conflicts caused by American politicians in the Middle East, a challenge UK ran away from. For decades, we have relied on USA for global leadership. But USA is facing a leadership crisis, something seen from the quality of candidates on offer to the American electorate. America’s failed leadership at home and abroad, is especially to blame for the rise of Donald Trump as a politician; while Hilary Clinton has her issues, she can offer global leadership and she’s the world’s only chance to arrest the politician in Trump. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Free the leader: Arrest the politician