Challenge Of Leadership In Enhancing Good Governance In South Sudan

South Sudanese craft sandals from tires to survive economic collapse (Photo Credit: The Sudan Times)

(Pachodo.org) - To grasp political leadership, we must first try to define politics, to have a better understanding of the meaning of leadership, in political context, and realm.

Of course, definition of politics may dissimilar on the bases of individual, or collective perspectives. However, it never matters how you define it. In simplicity, "Politics can be described like the art of governance, of which, without, a society can not coexist, or function. Politics is the heartbeat of society, it is what bids, drives and keeps society alive." These descriptions, meaning:-

(1) Politics isn't a science with formulas to assure success, it's an art that thrives on creative ideologies. So, in politics, it's not education that makes a leader successful, it's creativity.

(2) Politics is about governing society, and governance requires leadership. The kinda leaders we got is going to determine how well the society's going to run. Lucidly, "good governance is byproduct of good Leaderships." A society's got to have a solid leader if it wants good governance.

Solid leadership that enhances good governance doesn't come from fancy degrees, or education, but from a leader's creative thinking and ideas. In politics, creativity is key to good leadership, and enhancing governance for the people.

Thus, no matter how educated you are or whatever academic qualifications you possess, without being ideologically creative, you won't be a successful leader in the political system. We must understand that, in politics, good leadership doesn't come from the level of education or academic qualifications, but from ideological creativeness.

Thus, in our contemporary societies, we have highly educated people who are politically unsuccessful. In various societies, we've witnessed how the highly educated are often outsmarted in politics by the less educated, simply because the so-called educated lack ideological creativity

In politics, creativity is key. It's innate intelligence that shapes relationships, fosters positivity, and promotes harmony with the environment.

Creativity in political leadership encompasses innovation and adaptability in artistic expressions and producing new things and then ideas within a given context. It enables the use of basic resources to create opportunities, services, and productions that benefit the people.

Creativity is a must-have for political leaders! Because Leadership is all about guiding and driving change, and getting people to work together towards a common goal. A political leader needs to be creative to innovate, think outside the box, and drive development that benefits the people. This means delivering good governance where citizens enjoy peace, security, improved living standards, and access to better infrastructure and social services depends on creativeness of a leader.

Most unfortunately, our societies have been misled by imperial colonialism into believing that Western education is the only path to good leadership. But let's be real, education without creativity won't produce the leaders we need for good governance. As South Sudanese and Africans, we've forgotten that we had thriving systems before Western influence took over. We need to revisit our roots and blend the best of our traditions with modern education to create leaders who truly understand our needs.

Today, we remain underdeveloped and tremendously suffer because the leaders we have aren't creative or innovative enough to generate ideas or originate plans for the development of the people and the country, despite having the chances and resources needed.

Apparently, We have herbalists who can produce effective herbal medicines for treatments, as well management of various diseases and sicknesses that are killing great number of our population. Yet our political leaders could not invest in modernizations of these traditional methods of treatments, or herbs for the benefits of the people because the Western education system has colonized their minds to be negatively in our very own traditional herbs and treatments.

Our leaders willingly spends millions of United States Dollars on importations of Western Medicines, than investing the funds that the nation spends on importations of medicines from West, into development of local traditional medicines (herbs) that our great-grandfathers had survived on, for centuries before intruder Western civilizations with the so-called "Medicines like Panadol and Aspirin" etc.

I have indeed, sometimes ago, came across a post on social media (Facebook) about a man from South Sudan State of Warrap who is natural gifted, and crafting handguns that rival Russian-made AK-47s. His local made firearms can shoot, and kill just like Russia made AK-47. Same like in Western Equatoria State, there are local made handguns, which I have personal used when I was deployed in Tambura.

Unfortunately, our political leaders failed to leverage these skills and empower individuals by providing the necessary support and tools to modernize their production processes technologically.

Our leaders prefer to spend gigantic part of national budget on defence, only to import weapons while not minding of investing on modernization, as well industrializations of skills, or defence productions that are locally invented. This Provence that our political leaders has completely no trust in the local invented products, and technologies, and this is resulting in our dependence on Foreign Countries, specially the Western World in matters relating to defence of our very own sovereignty, as well as development of our nation.

Certainly; if we need to develop and compute with the rest of the developed World, we need leaders with innovative ideas who can capitalize on opportunities, create new things, and modernize local efforts to improve life and services through technology and production.

Our need is creative leaders who can apply their leadership in all situations to give better life for all. We are blessed with all the the required natural resources, but our leaders have betrayed us by their lack of sense of creativities to use these resources for the well being of the people. The kind of leaders we are having are of total disappointment as are not self starters, and could not create anything from blueprints for the development of their people, though they considered themselves educated, because they lack creativeness.

*By Maj. Gen. John Sunday Martin*
_Whatsapp: ±256791938465/762169801_