LEADING UNDER SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION

“Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end”
-Lord Acton-

African’s stunted growth and development can be put at the feet of very poor leadership and systemic corruption.
On of the greatest challenge’s for a leader is leading under a system that encourages corruption, where one person in particular is not the only corrupt person but virtually every cadre of people in the leadership ladder from himself to highest appear to support a measure of corruption.
In the last few years, a lot has been published about leadership corruption in high places in both public and private sectors within and outside our continent. Most people have heard the line “power corrupt” (or the longer version “ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPT ABSOLUTELY) the question often asked is; why and how does power corrupt leaders”?

After a through review of the extensive studies on corruption R. E. Riggio concludes that the answer is complex but fairly clear.

Leadership is at its core-and all is about power to get things done. A simple distinction is between two forms of power. Socialized power is power used to benefit others. We hope that our elected officials have this sort of power in mind and are primarily concerned with the best interest of their constituents. The other form of a power is called personalized power and it is using power is called personalized power and it is using power for personal gain. Importantly these two forms of power are not mutually exclusive. A leader can use his or her power to benefit others but can also gain personally (there has never been any poor former president that has ever existed). The obvious problem is when personalized power dominates and the leader again after at the followers expense. Yes, leaders can delude themselves that they are working for the greater good (using socialized power), but engage in behaviors’ that is morally wrong.
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which over time, add up to big differences’ that we often cannot foresee. A sense of power can cause a leader to engage in what leadership ethicist Terry price calls “exception making” believing that the rules that govern what is right and what is wrong does not apply to the powerful leaders.
Leaders can also become “intoxicated” by power engaging in wrong behavior simple because they can get away with it (and followers are writhing to conclude and make such exceptions like, “it is okay because he/she is the leader). Power has advantage and its disadvantages for leaders. On the positive side, power makes leaders more assertive and confident and certain of their decisions. This enables them to move forward on chosen courses of action. Leaders use the power to get the job done.

On the negative side, the more people posses power the more they focus on their own egocentric desires and the less able they are to see others perspectives. And there are individual difference some people are simply power- hungry and prone to use their power to subjugate others.
In the Africa continent, there is a general misuse of power to enrich individuals rather than foe the benefits of the larger society, leading to significant gaps between the rich and the poor and creating a major danger for the survival of even the rich themselves in the long run. It is important to note that if the powerful rich leaders do not make adequate provision for the survival of the poor, the poor will be unable to sleep, if the poor are unable to sleep, the rich will have to sleep but not be able sleep, comfortably.
It looks just logical that the rich and the powerful leaders should take adequate care of the basic needs of the poor because they both need each other to survive otherwise, both sides will not be able to co-exist in peace.