s Corruption The Result Of Poor African Leadership?

Is Corruption the Result of Poor African Leadership?

Robert I. Rotberg, director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution at HarvardUniversity’s School of Government, feels African leaders and their followers largely believe that the people are there to serve their rulers, rather than the other wayaround. He claims that during the past three decades roughly 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s leaders have behaved despotically, governed poorly, eliminated theirpeople’s human and civil rights, initiated or exacerbated existing civil conflicts, decelerated per capita economic growth, and proved corrupt. He puts all the blame onthe corrupt leaders calling them, simple-minded looters, economic illiterates, and puffed-up posturers. These leaders are not prepared to rule nations. They use badjudgment and as result, roads fall into disrepair, currencies depreciate and real prices inflate, health services weaken, life expectancies slump, people go hungry,schooling standards fall, crime rates accelerate, and overall security becomes more tenuous. For example Angola, Gabon, and Nigeria all have abundant petroleum,which provides enough money to solvent the needs of their people, nonetheless, these people suffer extreme poverty. Rotberg feels a good leader should be able to deliverhigh security for the state and the people; a functioning rule of law; education; health care; and a framework conductive to economic growth. He concludes hisargument by both calling for new leaders who will serve whole nations, and pointing out the conditions that allow the base instincts of many African leaders to prevail.