Leadership for development in a globalised environment : words on leadership

Abstract

The advancement of Africa and NEPAD depends entirely on the emergence of an African leadership for development. Issues of leadership and operational citizenship are examined and analysed. The article uses Othello to dramatize and analyse the challenges of African leadership. The scramble to save Africa from within and external is presented. The consequences of globalisation are examined. The article demonstrates that NEPAD is not a given for this continent, because certain conditions must be met which are succinctly outlined in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey consensus, and the United Nations Development Programme. The article raises questions of shifting goal posts. In the final analysis, the research examines the importance of leadership if NEPAD is to succeed. Given the history of the African continent, is NEPAD a myth or a reality of development? Will future generations be able to account why NEPAD did take off or did not? Answers to these questions can be presented only if leadership for NEPAD is defined broadly and the exogenous factors are brought into the analysis.