Scenario Planning: Effective gizmo for State-Building Leadership & Public Policy impact Forecast?

Scenario planning as a process of visualizing what future conditions or events are probable, what their consequences or effects would be like, and how to respond to, or benefit from, them. It is a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and generalization of classic methods used by military intelligence. The original method was that a group of analysts would generate simulation games for policy makers that combine known facts about the future, such as demographics, geography, military, political, industrial information and mineral reserves, with key driving forces identified by considering social, technical, economic, environmental and political trends and gaming the behavior of opponents.

Public policy is the principled guide to action taken by the administrative executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and substantial constitutional law and implementing legislation. Collection of sufficient resources from the economy in an appropriate manner along with allocating and use of these resources efficiently and effectively constitute good financial management. As public administrators of firms and agencies build scenarios, the implications for each uncertainty are extrapolated into the future to project different outcomes, and the combination of those outcomes becomes the basis for scenarios. Properly executed, scenario planning prompts participants to convert abstract hypotheses about uncertainties into narratives about tangible realities.

There are three scenarios of state building: legitimacy and accountability of states through democratic governance by holding elections and constitutional processes, economic liberalization, and strengthening the capacity of states to fulfill core functions of an effective state. Lee Kuan Yew, (Singapore) brought political stability, which together with rule of law, were essential for economic progress, thereby creating an Asian Tiger, meritocratic state, transforming from the third world to the first world in a single generation.http://www.academia.edu/14284465/Scenario_Planning_Effective_gizmo_for_State-Building_Leadership_and_Public_Policy_impact_Forecast

“Crises of Ethical Governance” Part II – Ethics, Corruption & Human Security

In spite of fast growing economies and notwithstanding the slavery and colonial legacy, that is still taxing the continent, new faces and forces of vulnerability and poverty haunt the Africa region. Conflicts, corruption, disasters, poverty, and pandemics now threaten the region with a calamity unforeseen even during the Great African Famine of the 1980s. While many proposals for remedial action have been formulated, real commitment to positive and collaborative processes at continental and inter organisational level has always been limited. These series of lectures aim to enhance the hallowed objective of curbing human insecurity, grand corruption and graft and stemming any the collateral threats of counter-corruption measures to good governance. It considers the relations between corruption, security, and development. The public service suffers from the pressures of economies, no less than those of politics. The realities prevailing in Africa render expectations of Africa’s public service rather unreasonable. For most junior public servants in Africa daily survival is nothing less than a minor miracle because their wages lag behind the requirements of self-reproduction. At a structural-political level, structural-cultural level and epistemological level,, is the conflict of the legitimacy of the received state, whose ‘public’ is nominal with the informal kinship-based; legitimacy of salient values of indigenous African cultures and those of the value systems of the modern state and the antimonies, distortions and confusions of an epistemological stance, which insistently privileges perceives Africa in the image of the West. Divided into four parts, it addresses the sources of human insecurity, the impact of corruption on development and discusses the redeeming factors to stem that tide of corruption and achieve a just society.
See lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/13949055/_Crises_of_Ethical_Governance_Part_II_Ethics_Corruption_and_Human_Security

‘Amalgamated Capital’ to finance Sustainable Development in Africa

With over one billion people still living in extreme poverty globally, accelerating progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty remains the primary goal of international development agencies, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Seen from the outside, Africa is often characterized as a continent of civil conflict, of refugee and displaced populations of economic crisis. Yes, some of the bloodiest conflicts since the end of WW II have been among Africans. Yet amid this gruesome picture, Africa is rising as the fastest growing continent in terms of aggregate economic indicators. One of the main outcomes of the Rio20 Conference was the agreement by member States to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will build upon the MDGs and con¬verge with the post 2015 agenda. It was decided establish an inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the General Assembly. Africa has no choice but to meet the SDGs, using this opportunity.
Available data suggest that development aid has nearly multiplied by tenfold in less than a decade from around $3 billion in 2003 to $30 billion in 2012. Ultimately, sustainable development will require investments of all kinds: public and private, domestic and international. It requires making the best possible use of each public dollar, beginning with the $135 billion in ODA. Amalgamated (Blended) Finance is the strategic use of development finance and charity funds to mobilize private capital flows to emerging and frontier markets. Amalgamated (Blended) Finance enhances the impact of develop¬ment aid resources by using those funds to tap into private capital in global markets, offering promising a latent solution to close the SDG funding disparity.
See the lecture here or http://www.academia.edu/14067768/_Amalgamated_Blended_Capital_to_finance_Sustainable_and_Inclusive_Growth_and_Development_in_Africa_-_Panelist_lecture_and_keynote_address_background_notes

Financing for Development Emergency Preparedness & Response Sub-Cluster of the Regional Coordination Mechanism

Conflicts, corruption, disasters, poverty and pandemics have often threatened Africa with a calamity unforeseen even during the Great African Famine of the eighties that affected 150 million Africans. While many proposals for remedial action have been formulated for vulnerability and poverty that haunt the region, real commitment to collaborative processes at inter- and intra-organizational level has always been limited. Mobilizing the action required has also remained a daunting challenge, as many practical and structural constraints militate against commitment by individual groups to organizational initiatives nationally and regionally. The tragedy, which took such a heavy toll of life over the past years, has highlighted fundamental weakness in the international humanitarian partnership. The complex political, economic, social and cultural phenomena of state failure are little understood with states plagued by rampant corruption, predatory elites who have long monopolized power, an absence of the rule of law and severe ethnic or religious divisions.
Nonetheless, the ability of states to strip people of their rights to livelihoods security, behind the thin veneer ‘non-interference in each other’s internal affairs’ is increasingly being challenged. While the African Union’s political evolution may allow such novelties, how do the responsibility to protect (R2P) and right to assistance (R2A) projects pursue their goals consistently in varying contexts, but do so without resorting to a self-defeating, overly scripted and stage-managed political ‘play’?. Transitions from humanitarian crises to effective and capable states can be explained with reference to two institutional factors: institutions and rules. Hence, new global donor strategies should focus on the different stages of humanitarian capacity building of crises states: conflict prevention, containment and peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction in the social, political and economic spheres. Strategies need to be simultaneously ‘objective’, dealing with substantive issues and the institutional mechanisms for response, and ‘subjective’, in developing the awareness, understanding and expectations at all levels.
See full lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/14018394/Financing_for_Development_-_Emergency_Preparedness_and_Response_Sub-Cluster_of_the_Regional_Coordination_Mechanism

Triangular Partnership in Higher Education Governance: Priming Human Qualities in Africa

A disciplined, healthy, nourished and motivated labor force is required to produce and distribute the goods and services needed for sustained human development. Leadership teams that are committed and willing with positive attitude to facilitate the process of opening up greater opportunities for every citizen are needed. The sector would require a proactive and innovative managerial and entrepreneurial team with capacities and willpower. To meet this challenge is synonymous to meeting the development challenge at large. The percept of governance of higher education has become apparent as the keys to the 21^st century and requires public understanding of the achievements. The theoretical discourse dwells on developing the framework the need for policy imperatives for guaranteeing governance of higher education. The conclusion poses questions related to: are all ideas and values of governance of higher education allowed to contend, are there laws or unwritten ‘codes’ which prevent or hinder intellectual and cultural freedom?

Within Africa, the supply of ideas of governance of higher education may be artificially deflated by particular strategies and mechanisms used by incumbents to manage entire reform processes. Conceptual possibilities may be left unrealized, or sub-optimally realized, insofar as governing elite are preoccupied with filling out those spaces of uncertainty in governance of higher education thought, discourse and action that alternative groups would occupy in the course of their own engagement. The crux of the challenge is to engage in Triangular Partnership, where the diaspora can participate in creating an intelligent and critical mass of human qualities and ensures their effective participation in the development process, putting it productive use. It is about having the ability and willingness to spot, sequence and execute human-centered development priorities and programs in the face of limited institutional capacities. The results would lead to the creation of a strong continent, active in global transactions.

Key words: governance, higher education, stakeholders, quality, standards, 

See full lecture here or  https://www.academia.edu/14169867/Triangular_Partnership_in_Higher_Education_Governance_Priming_Human_Qualities_in_Africa

Priming regional integration in Africa: The vision, the mission and the practice

Priming regional integration in Africa: The vision, the mission and the practice - - - Costantinos, published by ECHOAfrica MAgazine
Today, humankind stands on an extraordinary, and perhaps, seductive sets of dilemma: a global lifestyle and value system in which the 21st century has ushered in unprecedented global wealth; yet, such a lot that is all lavishly squandered, while some African nations are haunted by an oppressive present -- an embodiment of diseases, famine, wars, and devoured natural environment. The interconnectedness of people and good governance locally and its impact on integration were manifested by how seemingly minor incidences can turn into genocides of mind boggling proportions that continue today two decades after Rwanda in DRC, South Sudan, Central African Republic; fracturing the foundations of social accord in distant communities.
According to UNECA, tremendous efforts have been exerted in Africa’s regional integration efforts in key areas. These include efforts towards continental market integration (the Tripartite FTA initiative involving COMESA, EAC and SADC, the AU Summit Decision to fast track a CFTA; the Minimum Integration Program (MIP); the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA); continental financial institutions; the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), the African common position on migration and peace and security). African states have also committed to mainstream regional integration at the national level as a vehicle for pulling off Africa’s regional integration. Developments in key areas across the RECs include free movement of people and right of establishment, but member States should still strive to ensure the fulfillment of their commitments to these supplementary continental positions and instruments on migration and the free movement of people. On the macroeconomic policy convergence arena, Africa is making progress in implementing monetary cooperation programs, highlighted by COMESA’s regional payment system to facilitate intraregional trade
African nations believe that infrastructure is vital to advancing Africa’s integration agenda, supporting economic growth, reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Africa’s prospects for transformation will be brightened by investments in infrastructure. According to a UNECA report, “The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with the African Union Commission (AUC) has completed a study on the regional norms and institutional framework to foster the development of the various trans-African highways, which was reviewed by an expert group meeting in September 2011 in Addis Ababa. The meeting proposed an Action Plan, which was adopted by the African Ministers of Transport and subsequently endorsed by the AU Assembly. Many of the new railway development projects under way in Africa are based on the framework of the Union of African Railways, which encourages standard gauge railways. The Yamoussoukro Decision has increased air links among many African countries through operations of major African airlines. Its implementation was boosted by the decision of the third Conference of the African Ministers of Air Transport in 2007 in Addis Ababa to entrust to the African Civil Aviation Commission the role of executing agency.
African nations have also launched initiatives to promote regional cooperation in energy development, trade and capacity building. A baseline for renewable energy database has been developed for the region. MIP is a strategic framework to accelerate programs and activities of the RECs to boost continental integration. It was developed by the AUC with the RECs based on a study by the AUC in 2009. The concept of MIP was adopted by the African ministers in charge of regional integration at their fourth Conference at Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 2009. PIDA, which was adopted by the Heads of State and Government in 2010, contains a framework for meeting infrastructure demand. It has components addressing projected infrastructure gaps and bottlenecks based on supply and demand forecasts, institutional deficiencies and options for identifying, preparing and funding projects.
In line with the Abuja Treaty, the Heads of State and Government of the AU approved the hosting of the African Investment Bank, the African Monetary Fund and the African Central Bank, by Libya, Cameroon and Nigeria, respectively. AMV—a transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development—was adopted by African leaders at the 2009 AU Summit
Nevertheless, much depends on the commitment and ability of states to transform the vision into practice. Developmental state advocates emphasize the stewardship role of the state while liberals and neo-classical economists are concerned with the state’s guiding functions. However, these are not only differences in political theory. At their heart lie different perceptions regarding the relation between knowledge and power. In the modern economic system, guiding often refers to policies and institutions that maintain the economic system and enable it to function effectively. Its underlying philosophy of governance, claiming its capitalist heritage, is that the state should be prevented from doing so, since it can never have enough information to undertake detailed guidance of economic activity. Guiding is restricted to macro processes and the international institutions that determine such policies and processes. These tangential issues raise several questions on Africa integration.

• Does governance of African economic and social integration enter societal processes in Africa as an external ideology, constructing and deploying its concepts in sterile abstraction from the immediacies of indigenous traditions, beliefs and values? Do ideas of integration come into play in total opposition to, or in cooperation with historic national values and sentiments?
• In the struggle over the establishment of new gubernatorial norms and procedures for African economic and social integration, do leading institutions equate the articulation of their ideas and agendas with the production of broad-based concepts, norms and goals, which should govern their integration initiatives?
• Does governance of African economic and social integration signify change in terms of the transformation of the immediate stuff of partisan politics into a new kind of political activity - an activity mediated and guided by objective and critical standards, rules and principles?

The attention for governability of African economic and social integration is based on the concern about abject poverty and the sustainability of integration-based development supported by international financial institutions. If this is to happen, a predictable and transparent framework for policy design and all enabling environment for citizens' participation and private initiative, must exist. The institutional setting and the decision-making process in which this process takes place is essential, together with the norms and values on which they are based. Such integration hence connects the norms, procedures, and institutions that must exist for effective, efficient and open public policies on African economic and social integration.
Unanswered questions of African integration:
In 1991, I was invited to undertake the ALF/GCA study on political transition in Africa. Coming right after the Arusha Declaration on Popular Participation, a landmark contribution to the debate on the role of civil society, I took on the task with enthusiasm and vigor. Three years later, under the auspices of UN and EU, I took a task of two formidable responsibilities. One was to undertake studies to revitalize the role of African civil society in the UN new agenda for African development and to appraise what the future holds for the democratization process in Africa. These launched my engagement with integration talk in Africa in earnest.
Because discussions leading to African futures tend to be one of dejection, the so-called post-Cold War political history of the continent is fast replacing African economics as the morbid art or science not both. Nevertheless, caution, not cynicism, should be the craft as has been amply demonstrated by the recent growth episodes of the continent. While participants in the complex traffic web of African futures could be torn between professional caution and the genuine desire for a better future, repeated attempts to dispel the prevailing gloom of integration by pointing to the bright spots of the current episode of economic growth to check the overall drift towards ‘non-integration’ have not yielded to popular demands.
This raises some fundamental questions. What do we mean by African integration in the first place? Does integration have indigenous roots? Lurking in the background of all these questions is the rather disturbing one: is perhaps all this talk of African integration an academic or a public relations exercise?
Although Africa is lumped as a political community, it is also a continent, where various nationalities who speak over 2000 different languages, enjoy varied cultures, and inhabit their own territories. Africa is also a new continent modeled under the totalitarian rule of white colonialists and military regimes that were handpicked to replace them. They exhibited a degree of coercive power deployed both for intimidating their populace and territorial expansion. Carrying arms became a sign of an all-encompassing martial culture that brewed military discipline coupled with radical ethnic ideology to breed a culture of conformity and uniformity. The stark reality of the new concept of the fragile states also makes this last question less cynical than it would otherwise appear at first sight. African leaders are articulate in stating their integration aims and positions and in promoting them within and through their Governments and their regional institutions.
However, to describe the strategy is problematique for a number of reasons. African States cannot be expected to know all their political objectives and means-ends calculation openly when it comes to issue of integration and one cannot suppose that their formally declared aims and purposes exhaust their ideological and strategic intentions. The way in which they envision the concepts and goals of integration in specific contexts may be at variance with the global “meaning” or “sense” attributed to them. The specific mode of concern about integration may be more processual than revolutionary, more liberal than egalitarian, or more procedural than substantive. Alternatively, it may switch from the liberal code or structural model to the revolutionary code unpredictably - making the task of describing objectives difficult.
The articulation of ideas and ends of integration is not monolithic. It is modulated within the network of domestic and foreign participants - like the goal of securing peace and stability and prevention of balkanization in South Sudan and Central African Republic. However, it also includes discourses and associated objectives designed primarily, though not exclusively, for consumption by a specific public. For these reasons, it is not easy to give an exact account of African integration goals and ultimate political ends pursued by African states. The author has lingering doubts and questions about the status and mission of the dominant regional organizations and at the core of them the African Union, about the nature of the alliance that all point up the need for caution in taking declaratory goals of “African integration” at face value. Nevertheless, one can describe accurately the declared reform goals on the assumption that they are significant, if not exhaustive, indicators of real intentions. This is admittedly a simplifying assumption, but one which provides a point of departure for analyzing an involved and controversial strategy. What does this leave the transition to African integration? Practically nothing but problems to solve: African integration needs to be built virtually from scratch. Politically, its past is more a liability than an asset. In designing the methodology for studies leading to integration and in establishing the analytical foundation, it is important that that we understand the different permutations and trajectories of integration: society-led or state-led integration or a combination of both.
Regional integration is difficult. Eloquent testimony for this is the challenges faced by European integration where Germany is technically driving the process by bailing out the faltering economies. Ultimately, as the UNECA report concludes, “Regional integration initiatives require a large degree of public management and implementation at the national level. Without an absolute commitment at the national level, there can be little progress at the sub-regional level. Doing nothing or too little to implement agreed programs can severely hamper the integration agenda”. Indeed as President Museveni asserted, “Africans today are surviving at the mercy of others. Rationality would have propelled us to use the recovery of our independence to ensure that Africa stands up for the last time. Independence and post-independence African leaders need to bear the historical responsibility for the future tragedies that may befall Africans in the future”.

A Meritocratic State for Africa

The purpose of this think piece emanated from the deep conviction that an African renaissance can only happen with the development of each and every African and the collective skills, aptitudes and visions of our citizens. It is indeed timely and apposite to discourse on the subject of empowered professional self development. The piece hence seeks to explore the changing nature of international debates about empowered self-development and its implications for human empowerment to achieve our declared goals for the next five years and the MDGs.
Do human qualities spur development?
Yes they do; but… On the global arena, a consensus has emerged that a concerted massive action over a sustained period, on the development and utilization of a pool of critical human qualities at all levels and spectrum of society would provide the foundation and engine for gaining a respectable and beneficial place within the process of self-development and self-management. A disciplined, healthy, nourished, and motivated labor force is required to produce and distribute the goods and services needed for sustained human development. Leadership teams that are committed and willing with positive attitude to facilitate the process of opening up greater opportunities for every citizen are needed.
With the groundswell of political consciousness and opportunities for political change that has emerged in Africa, the discourse on cultural democracy can and must take place to ensure its ultimate sustainability. It is also a challenge, because, for a third time in a generation, we are faced with the daunting task of building up new and equitable relationships; and hence the litmus test to our ability to participate in reshaping the future of a nation. It is also an opportunity for Africans to marshal their experience and knowledge to play a constructive role in national development. As the march of meritocracy has now slowed to a crawl in Africa, and, on some fronts, has even turned into a retreat, the real threat to merit-based career development comes not only from within the government and the private sector but from society at large. The biggest risk to our development is the erosion of the competitive principle.
Which world are we living in? Amid the turbulence of the divisions that marked the debate in the Cold War period, which was dominated by the great ideological differences between liberal-capitalism and socialism, and in which the contest was seen to lie in the competing claims of the primacy of civil and political rights on the one hand and economic and social rights on the other. At the heart of the controversy in self development was the role of the market in the organization of economy and the well known critique by Marx that established a better framework for rights in which economic and social rights were ensured to all people, enabling them to live a life of dignity and hence nations analyzed rights in class terms. Leaders hovered uneasily between these opposed views, reluctant to disengage from the rhetoric, which had been invoked extensively in the seventies, but also conscious of the difficulties of establishing political authority, especially in multiethnic societies, and increasingly driven to restrictions of rights. The end of the Cold War changed dramatically the context for the discourse of self-development widely represented as the victory of human right and Western (Mainly American) democracy. The discourse achieved a high salience. The west defined its mission the extension of rights and democracy to other parts of the world... followed by its dominance of Western culture. Soon Coca Cola and Hollywood became the icons of the new ‘cultural revolution’.
On our end, throughout African history, activists have worked in socially broad-based movements to challenge social injustice in oppressive eras, regimes, and faith aristocracies that challenged the very idealism of humanness and human dignity. The ethic that has brought about this change has been manifested in more ways than one; by emancipation-spirituality that inspired widespread grassroots renewal all over the world. The contemporaneous forms of inspirited social-change masterpieces that it brought deserve considerable attention in any discourse of human development, distribution of wealth and well-being; especially when it comes to building robust communities of faith, resilience, and ethics.
Good enough never is - do a little more: No matter how common the task, it should be done uncommonly well. Such a choice is always wise; after all, the path of excellence is never crowded and is a highway that leads to the top. Excellence is not a destination we reach, but is an unending process of constant improvement. What better way to live than by growing better each day? Those who pursue excellence are not in direct competition with others, for they measure themselves against their own accomplishments. The real contest is always between what you’ve done and what you’re capable of doing. You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else." Excellence is deliberate, not an accident that we stumble upon. It is about asking of ourselves more than others do; it is about harbouring thoughts of excellence in our hearts and minds. As long as we aim for a more ideal self, success will naturally follow. Moreover, the good news is excellence is within the grasp of all, for it is merely about doing our best at every moment. It is not about perfection, which is an illusive goal, but about becoming what we are capable of being. Those who stand by the sidelines and watch others succeed, know what is necessary, but are unwilling to devote the time and effort to bettering themselves. So, each of us have to make a decision.
To do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way; to do some things better than they were ever done before; to eliminate errors; to know both sides of the question; to be courteous; to be an example; to work for the love of work; to anticipate requirements; to develop resources; to recognize no impediments; to master circumstances; to act from reason rather than rule; to be satisfied with nothing short of perfection. Those who are successful in their quest for excellence simply do what they do better and do more of it. They go about life always alert for better ways of doing things. Every endeavor they engage in is imprinted with their mark of excellence. They understand that if you do a job quickly, people will forget about it. But if you do it well, people will remember. Founder of IBM, Thomas J. Watson (1874 ~ 1956), in his work the Path to Excellence said that: Care more than others think is wise. Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. Strive more than others think is worthwhile. Do more than others think is necessary. Be more than others think is sufficient.
Greatness is not power, wealth, fame, beauty, or talent. Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character. (William Arthur) In other words, it is becoming someone you admire. Not because of egoism, but because of the innate desire to be and do one’s best. This is the single most powerful investment nations can ever make in life - investment in human ability to deal with life and to contribute. People are the instruments of their own performance, and to be effective, they need to recognize the importance of taking time regularly to sharpen the saw. The more proactive you are, the more effectively you can exercise personal leadership and management in your life. The more effective you manage your life, the more renewing activities you can do. The more you seek first to understand, the more effectively you can go for synergetic win-win solutions. The more you improve in any of the habits that lead to independence, the more effective you will be in interdependent situations. Renewal is the process of rejuvenating ones character, demeanor and habits.

The main reason for America's success lies in the organization of its educational system asserts The Economist. “This is something other countries can copy... but they will not find it easy—particularly if they are developing countries that are bent on state-driven modernization. America does not have a central plan for its universities….it does not treat its academics as civil servants. Instead, universities have a wide range of patrons, from state governments to religious bodies, from fee-paying students to generous philanthropists. The academic landscape has been shaped by rich benefactors such as Ezra Cornell, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, and John D. Rockefeller”. This is something that can be emulated by our private sector however nascent or underdeveloped.

Meritocratic governments (such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, China, and India), South Korea, Ghana, Tunisia, Singapore, Malaysia to name a few) and the corporate world stress talent, formal education, and competence, rather than existing social differences. Meritocracy is now often used to describe a type of society where wealth, income, and social status are assigned through competition, on the assumption that the winners do indeed deserve their resulting advantage. As a result, the word has acquired a connotation of Social Darwinism, used to describe aggressively competitive societies, with large inequality of income and wealth, and sharply contrasted with egalitarian societies. Social Darwinism is a form of contemporary socio-biology is natural selection applied to human social institutions; whose proponents often used the theory to justify social inequality as being meritocratic. Others used it to justify racism and imperialism and at its most extreme, it appears to anticipate eugenics and the race doctrines of the Nazis.
In a plural soiety where power is theoretically in the hands of the elected representatives, meritocratic elements include the use of expert consultants to help formulate policies, and a meritocratic civil service to implement them. The perennial problem in advocating meritocracy is defining exactly what one means by merit. Hence, in devising a meritocratic state for Africa, we need to look at several of the state functions that must as a necessity be accomplished by well-developed teams and change agents. On the political governance arena, it is important that legislators understand their role with mechanisms whereby members of the legislature have sufficient access to research services, libraries, information and technical resources and staff to enable them to make informed decisions and not generally acquiesces to executive demands.
In analyzing the Executive Arm’s ability to perform, the first question is whether there is a civil service, with appointments based on merit that has inter alia minimum entry requirements such as the Indian Civil Service and where large sectors of the population are not automatically guaranteed a job in the public sector, although it is important to tackle the unemployment challenge through a vibrant private sector. This is an important point of departure to evolve a clear system of promotion based on merit, and with checks and balances to ensure that this is implemented. This also enables the state to ensure that specific functions are clearly described, and chains of command clearly delineated and avoid widespread instances of promotion and appointment based on patronage. Equally relevant arena for consideration is the compensation for civil servants i.e., the salary paid to civil servants is similar or even better to that which they could earn in other sectors (to prevent brain drain from the nation and civil service) and are there are benefits and access to government structures that afford significant attractions to join the civil service? Coupled with good remuneration and post-adjustment packages, the existence of alternative employment opportunities for civil servants can render the civil service a preferred profession. The necessity for a publicly acknowledged system of appointment, that encourages most senior positions to be held by career civil servants; has been time and again tested in those developing economies and emerging markets such as the The CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) that have successfully transited out of penury.
Such a system of appointment based on merit will indubitably ensure that budgetary policies and priorities are set correctly. It also provides the incentives for government agencies and state owned businesses to develop more cost efficient ways of doing business and enhances decentralisation of resource generation and allocation. Thus under such a capacitated state, local authorities are able to collect revenue and programme it for human development and human security. It also means that local authorities develop their own budgetary priorities and programmes. The most significant of all is the existence of a favourable environment for private enterprise; with regulations and administrative procedures, which need to be followed, that facilitate private ownership of property. In the arena of participation and communication, it is significant that there is a range of well-developed countervailing intermediary civic organisations such as policy or political and economic think tanks and professional associations that function freely and openly, serving a variety of sectors of the population and can peacefully function as pressure groups, lobbying for specific interests.
The three essential capabilities for human development are for people to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable and to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living. If these basic capabilities are not achieved, many choices are simply not available and many opportunities remain inaccessible. Nevertheless, the realm of human development goes further: essential areas of choice that are highly valued by people, range from political, economic and social opportunities for being creative and productive to enjoying self-respect, empowerment and a sense of belonging to a community.
Thus, the achievement of the goals propounded and enacted in the five year development plans by the African legislatures is in many measures a decision that will launch growth trajectories into a new era of human development (and as much as I refrain to use the phrase – ‘poverty reduction’). Hence, a nation needs a work force with a sense of purpose, work ethic, vision, integrity, direction has to do with creating conditions for the existence of the broadest possible range of dialogue, opinions, and human sentiments to achieve the goals enshrined the vision of African legislature. Developing and maintaining such a work force implies acquiescing to a system of economic and social governance based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by quotas, connections, wealth, race, or other determinants of social position.

Indigenous Peoples of Africa: Prospects for Resilient & Sustainable Livelihoods

Indigenous Peoples of Africa: Prospects for Resilient & Sustainable Livelihoods - Costantinos, Published by EcoAfrica
Africa has been experiencing a major ground swell of social, economic, cultural and political changes. While the movement towards fundamental political change is remarkable, there are certain formidable challenges that will make the transition to a stable, political and pluralist system of governance very difficult. The cultural, historical, political and socioeconomic conditions of this troubled region are not simply too conducive to the emergence of strong political polity. It is indeed within this context in which the legal empowerment of the indigenous peoples has to be recognized.
Across countries and continents, many terms and definitions refer to indigenous peoples. The 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has not adopted a universal definition. While the prevailing view today is that no formal universal definition is necessary for the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, there is in practice a large degree of convergence of views. Indigenous Peoples can be identified in particular geographical areas by the presence in varying degrees of characteristics such as: having close attachment to ancestral territories and to the natural resources in these areas; self-identifying and being identified by others as being members of a distinct cultural group, an indigenous language; or having customary social and political institutions and primarily subsistence-oriented production.
Africa’s indigenous peoples

• Algeria: Amazigh/ Berber;
• Angola: San/Bushmen;
• Botswana: San/Balala, Nama;
• Burkina Faso: Peul, Tuareg;
• Burundi: Batwa;
• Cameroon: Pygmy, Mbororo, Kirdi;
• CAR: Mbororo, Aka/BaAka;
• Chad: Mbororo, Peul;
• DRC: Pygmy;
• Ethiopia: Hamer, Dassenech, Nygagaton and Erbore, Nuer, Afar, Borraan, Oromo, Mursi, Agnwak, Nuer, Gumuz,
• Gabon: Pygmy;
• Kenya: Turkana, Rendille, Borraan, Maasai, Samburu, Ilchamus, Somali, Gabra, Pokotand, Endorois, Ogiek, Sengwer, Yaaku, Waata, El Molo, Boni (Bajuni), Malakote, Wagoshi, Sanya, Kalenjin;
• Mali: Tuareg, Peul;
• Morocco: Amazigh/ Berber;
• Namibia: San, Himba;
• Niger: Peul, Tuareg, Toubou;
• Nigeria: Ijaw, Ogoni, Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Isoko, Efik, Ibibio South, Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri, Nupe, Tiv;
• Rep. Congo: Bantu,Pygmy;
• South Africa: San (Xun, Khwe and Khomani), Nama/Khoe;
• Tanzania: Bantu, Cushite, Nilo-Hamite& San;
• Uganda: Batwa, Benet, Karamajong

Characteristics associated with indigenous claims in Africa
Africans founded the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC) in 1997, as one of the main transnational network organizations recognized as a representative of African indigenous peoples in dialogues with governments and bodies such as the UN. IPACC (1977) identifies several key characteristics associated with indigenous claims in Africa:

• political and economic marginalization rooted in colonialism;
• de facto discriminationbased often on the dominance of agricultural peoples in the State system (e.g. lack of access to education and health care by hunters and herders);
• the particularities of culture, identity, economy and territoriality that link hunting and herding peoples to their home environments in deserts and forests (e.g. nomadic, diet, knowledge systems);
• Some indigenous peoples, such as the Sanand Pygmy peoples are physically distinct, which makes them subject to specific forms of discrimination.

In addition to the above-mentioned definition, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) describes indigenous people as nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists and hunter/gatherers who live in situations of marginalization and discrimination. While all these definitions capture some key characteristics of indigene populations, they do not fully account for some of the distinct traits of the population. Furthermore, these definitions pose particular problems in the African context where the term is constantly confused with pastoralism. Therefore, the initial task of this study was to set out criteria that will help in identifying the indigenous groups in Africa that the research/study should focus on. Clearly defining indigene populations in the African context will help development stakeholders to identify and document the size, location and grouping of indigenes in Africa and decide when and by reference to what criteria, they should receive differential treatment in Bank projects.
Indigenes Countries

• Pygmy - DRC, Gabon& Republic of Congo
• Mbororo - Central African Republic &Chad
• Peul - Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger& Mali
• Amazigh - Algeria, Morocco (Berber)
• Batwa - Burundi, Uganda Tanzania
• San - Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa

According to the information obtained from IWGIA and confirmed by the ACHPR, around “fifty million indigenous people in twenty one African nations, mostly nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists and hunter/gatherers live in situations of marginalization and discrimination. The major groups of indigenous people are the Amazigh/Berber in Northern Africa, the Pygmies in Central Africa, the Peul and the Tuareg in Western Africa, the Bantu in East Africa and the Sanpeople /Bushmen in Southern Africa.
The situation of indigenous peoples in Africa is daunting.
While discrimination of marginalized groups, mal-governance, corruption, impunity, violent conflicts and poverty is in general very high on the African continent, indigenous peoples are specifically among the groups suffering the most. Rural poverty in Africa is increasingly concentrated in indigenous and pastoral communities where they face economic, social, political and cultural marginalization in the societies in which they live, resulting in extreme poverty and vulnerability for a disproportionate number of them. Generally, their socio-economic and human development conditions are significantly worse than other populations. Caused by a number of factors such as dominating development paradigms favoring settled agriculture over other modes of production, establishment of national parks and conservation areas and natural resource extraction etc., this harms them in many ways. Indigenous peoples in Africa are often victims of violent conflicts. Indigenous peoples in Africa have limited access to justice and violations against their rights are often committed with impunity. In sum, indigenous peoples in African suffer from severe neglect, dispossession and human rights violations, and the general trend is that African states wish to assimilate them into dominant cultures and livelihoods.
Only few African countries have so far recognized the existence of indigenous peoples. However, this situation is gradually improving and several central African countries now recognize the existence of indigenous peoples in their countries. For example, Ethiopia’s Constitution provides for representation of every nation and nationality in the upper chamber of law making. Kenya a new constitution has been adopted which provides for considerable decentralization and recognition of historically marginalized groups to which indigenous peoples belong. In Burundi, the constitution provides for special representation of the indigenous Batwa people in the National Assembly and the Senate. Cameroon has a draft law on Marginal Populations. The Central African Republic has as the first country in Africa ratified ILO Convention 169.
Indigenous people’s poor representation in decision-making bodies at both local and national level and has very much limited their participation in decision-making processes. Mainstream populations have always discriminated indigenous peoples and looked down upon as backward peoples. Many stereotypes prevail that describe them as “backward”, “uncivilized” and “primitive, an embarrassment to modern African states. Such negative stereotyping legitimizes discrimination and marginalization of indigenous peoples by institutions of governance and dominant groups. Advances in human thought and action towards global justice and universalization of guarantees for human rights are gathering added momentum with the motive energy contributed by these unprecedented events. The ability of States to strip people of their rights to livelihood security, shrouded behind the thin veneer of non-interference in each other's internal affairs is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. While the dawning of this new era of political pluralism and economic growth is a welcome event, the stewardship, management and administration of social, political, and economic reforms is also marked by uniquely forbidding organizational-strategic issues.
Promoting indigenous peoples’ development
In the wake for Africa's renaissance, African scholars and practitioners must research and promote indigenous peoples’ development by connecting with the people, joining in on their aspirations, complementing their abilities with their resources and assisting to create true partnerships. Africans must commit to a common discipline of empowerment among all people, to a fundamentally new value system based on justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Indeed, it is a system recognizes the rich resources of indigenous peoples’ communities, their cultural and spiritual contributions and protecting the wealth of nature. It will be radically different from the value system on which the present economic and political orders function and which lies behind the current crises of indigenous peoples. We need to collectively define a new understanding of empowerment in which those who have been marginalized by reason of sex, age, economic and political condition, ethnic origin and disability, the homeless, refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants alike take their place at the center of all decisions and actions as equal partners.
Given time, the empowerment approach entailed in this new paradigm, can take root to become significantly enabling to African countries and peoples as they strive to meet their objectives. This requires among, other things, a fundamental paradigm shift in the identification of development challenges and a sustained effort to transform the way in which knowledge is currently constructed, organized and used as a basis for programming.
A new structure can emerge, which provides for a state agency that will administer assemblies, which will administer indigenous people’s lands. The institutional structure augurs on the principles already discussed in the previous section mindful of the following:

• that the structure should be Executive and its accountability should be to the people through a legislative organ, the Parliament;
• that the administration of land and participation of the people generally, and the land users participation matters should be conducted in a transparent manner;
• that land management and land delivery systems provision of professional service as opposed to administrative; institutional checks and balances should be built into the structure and prevented from developing into a monopolistic, bureaucratic entity

Needless to repeat, we can derive these principles directly opinions received from the people who argued that the present management was not close enough and accessible to the majority of the people. It was insensitive to the expectations and interests of the town dwellers; controlled effectively by a handful of administrative mandate to decide on land matters and who often abused their offices for lack of professional ethics and checks and balances. Hence, the recommended management and administrative structure maintains the principle of separation of powers at state level down to the village level. In particular, the Constitution guards the principle of the independence of the judiciary. The most dramatic advance in the history of human thought came about not because of the discovery of new answers for old problems but because of new queries for erstwhile problems. The thesis of this research is based on the need to elevate the discourse on people-driven in institutionalizing social ingenuity to a higher paradigm of institutional mainstreaming instead of trying to find new answers to justify emerging cerebral deprivation of the intellectual or the frustration of the state elite to explain grinding poverty in African rural communities.
Conclusion
The intrinsic difficulty of underpinning the reason for livelihood crisis is that an enormous number of physical, economic, social and political variables, at both national and international levels, influence the interplay between state and civil society, modernity and tradition, self-less nationalism and greed, knowledge based governance and ignorance, courage and fear of the unknown. At the level of civil society, problems manifest themselves in the form of insufficient and inadequate organizations and networks to develop responses to the challenges of vulnerability and its implications. The lack of institutional links between civil society and the public sector regarding livelihood security and obstacles and difficulties experienced by indigenous people in the process of developing adequate responses is a major hurdle we need to address. Furthermore, inadequate awareness concerning development and its implications, lack of a common will to mount a concerted assault from all quarters, and lack of resources has made the crisis even more demanding. Within a life span of something like five decades, African polities have exhibited an enhanced degree of coercive power. This has resulted in a pervasive military ethos through a long and painful process of ideological schooling. Hence, a major obstacle to efforts to install and consolidate systems is the all-powerful and hierarchical bureaucratic structure.
Even under democratically favorable contemporary global conditions, historical, ideological and strategic characteristics internal and external to the sub-Saharan Africa’s economic, social and political transition processes would still exist that make it a costly exercise. Characteristics and problems of this sort can be identified and understood through critical, yet constructive, analysis focused on certain key elements of the reform strategy; in setting the stage for the evolution of new social, political, and economic culture based on peoples priority, knowledge and practice. This has to change.
It is easy to follow the current trend within the interna­tional discourse and advocate community driven institutionalizing social ingenuity as a desirable form of adjustment for tens of millions of Africans; weathering in the storm of climate change; induced by reckless industrial growth and consump­tion. Nor is it difficult to make normative judgments about how states and societies should behave if institutionalizing social innovations in institutionalizing social ingenuity are to be the lead­ing paradigms of humanity. This is in sharp contrast to the accountability of developed nations and at the same time the demeanor of ‘development finance’ institutions in support such migration of social innovations into national and global rules of conduct.
The failed ideologies of the last century have ended, but a new one has risen to take their place. It is the ideology of Development-and it promises a solution to all the world’s ills. Nevertheless, Developmentalism is a dangerous and deadly failure, a dark ideological specter, haunting the world and as deadly as the tired ideologies of the last century, that failed so miserably, (but) it is thriving. Like all ideologies, (it) promises a comprehensive final answer to all of society’s problems, from poverty to violence and despotic rulers. It shares the common ideological characteristic of suggesting there is only one correct answer, and it tolerates little dissent. It deduces this unique answer for everyone from a general theory that purports to apply to everyone, everywhere. There is no need to involve local actors who reap its costs and benefits. It even has its own intelligentsia at the IMF, World Bank& UN (Easterly, 2007:1).
Nevertheless, it is not so easy to conceptualize local sustainable development innovations as working processes, which are balanced against strategy, to determine what makes for real, as opposed to vacu­ously formal, declaratory rhetoric of sustainable development and climate change summits of gov­ernments. This is particularly the case where corporatist states tend to view the relations of their particular SD agenda with their broader governing roles and responsibilities as relatively simple and direct, unproblematically reducing the latter to the former. The ultimate objective of sustainable development is to achieve a balance between human needs and aspirations in sync with the quality of life today and in the future. Common sense would thus exact an urgent need to bring to scale the destructive magnitude of industry, untenable demographic dynamics and frantic misuse of resources into equilibrium on the one hand and the desired outcomes in sustainable livelihoods on the other. The 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Devel­opment or Earth Summit, became one of the most effective means to reinforce the sig­nificance of environmental sustainability and generate global awareness of the environment–development rela­tionship.
The major outcomes of this Earth Summit, in­cluding the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Con­vention on Climate Change, the Rio Declaration and the Agenda 21, 1992, draw attention to the importance of some major dimensions of sustainability in pursuing so­cioeconomic development. Beyond platitudes and empty pledges, global covenants for a sustainable world have borne little fruit. The Rio+20 jamboree manifestly projected the mercerization of well-meaning global survival concerns by over-represented and powerful trans-nationals which, successfully coerced a dramatic barter of the human environment and life on the planet with admirable succinctness and brazen verve. From a policy perspective, therefore, any research should provide the normative and operative analytical treatise, which will enable leaders to identify the institutional gaps and potential opportunities that inhibit or promote the migration of social innovations in sustainable development into institutional praxis. It must draw on case analyses to underpin the technological reform discourse as a means of endogenous common resources management and in-depth restructuring of polity that manages this.
Demands by indigenous peoples’ leaders and rapidly evolving national and international normative frameworks on the rights of indigenous peoples have led to the adoption of specific policies by the World Bank (1991, 2005), the Asian Development Bank (1998, 2009), the Inter-American Development Bank (2006), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (2008) and the African Development Bank (2013-2014). Over the years, these institutions have accumulated extensive experience in dealing with issues related to development and protection of indigene populations. While one must exercise caution because of difference of settings and context, but we can identify and learn certain best practices and lessons from these.

Africa: Strategic Governance & Leadership Challenges & Opportunities

1. Introduction
Leadership within the African context can best be described as quoted in the Chinese book “I Ching, or Chinese Book of Changes”, (1971) “To become a centre of influence holding people together is a grave matter and fraught with great responsibility. It requires greatness of spirit, consistency, and strength. Therefore let him who wishes to gather others about him ask himself whether he is equal to the undertaking...” Leadership has several forms of agency:
1.1. Official power:
The authority to instruct government machinery to carry out instructions is the prime example. Hence, the leadership we expect is above all about responsibility; requiring acceptance of the importance of one's self-coupled with an appreciation of the greater importance of others over oneself. Therefore, leadership entails liability for those who are led - whereby, leadership becomes a discipline in its own right. There is no set of techniques, rules, or series of commandments with which the leader can arm themselves and be assured of success; nonetheless, they must always interrelate, familiarize, change, and transform themselves.
1.2. Supremacy over dialogue:
Our cabinet leaders are expected to develop the capacity, through their statements and actions, including symbolic actions, to shape debate and dialogue. Even when their formal power is limited, they can use their access to the media and stature in society to influence what people talk about. It is vital to recognize that, through either position or personality, they have the power to impact on the world - to change it. This, in fact, is the essence of leadership: the leader is one who does not accept the limitations of a “given” situation or set of circumstances, but uses the opportunity to transform such constraints into new realities, and takes responsibility for the privilege.
1.3. Moral high ground:
An inspiring ‘job description’ of our ministers must be not only the power over discourse but also their ability to shape morality, to determine what is socially acceptable, culturally sound and politically uplifting. Indeed, leadership is more than a job; it is a calling.
1.4. Leaders operate at national and international levels:
The international component may be particularly important here, given our clear continen-tal African identity adopted under Emperor Haile Sellasse. As custodian of African Unity, our leaders are expected to be the role model for social change.
1.5. Leadership for human development and human security:
Political leadership of human development and human security requires intimate knowledge of public policy analysis, formulation, and management and development of strategic plans and implementing them. We can identify four main aspects to this:
• analysis, formulation and management of policy, strategy, process and organisation;
• obtaining policy consensus;
• ensuring that the public service can actually carry out policy, and not see it subverted or undermined;
• ensuring that the policy is implemented with sufficient energy: this implies mechanisms for monitoring and accountability: in addition, we can identify some of the preconditions for effective public policy measures against a major social ill:
o A set of technical and/or policy measures that a state can utilise to tackle effectively the specific social ill, with a package that works in the most basic technical manner.
o Mechanisms to ensure that the technologies and/or policies are adequately utilised, backed by legislation, administrative commitment or other specific forms of sanctioning. There have to be mechanisms for ensuring that institutions function, and political processes for accountability.
o An ethical consensus, which rules that this specific social ill is unacceptable, the policy must be acceptable to the target group and the public;
This is especially important in our continent when the policy imperatives involve trying to change attitudes and behaviour of a national psyche that has rendered the nation eternally dependent on international charity. Thus, our leaders are on the one hand responsible for breaking the boundaries of inward bound wisdom, of “common sense”, of patterns of thinking and behaving, which, over the years, have built themselves into routines, which pacify people to dormancy. On the other hand, they also have to maintain continuity whilst simultaneously promoting change; such is the nature of leadership ambiguity and contradiction that comes as part of the same deal.
2. Leaders oversight is an important part of the policy making process.
Leaders should ensure that the agreed policy is properly implemented and delivered to the tar-get citizens by means of leaders' oversight. As to Pelizzo et al (2006:8), “scholars have generally agreed on the fact that effective oversight is good for the proper functioning of a democratic political system. Effective oversight is beneficial for a political system for, at least, two basic reasons (West and Cooper, 1989): ‘first, because the oversight activity can actually contribute to improving the quality of the policies/programs initiated by the government; second, because as the government policies are ratified by the leadership branch, such policies acquire greater legitimacy’”. Besides their responsibility for the leadership process, leaders have a key function in providing oversight of the government on behalf of the public (Beetham, 2006:127). Through its core oversight function, leaders holds the government to account on behalf of the people, ensuring that government policy and action are both efficient and commensurate with the needs of the public and leaders’ oversight is crucial in checking excesses on the government (Yamamoto, 2007:6).
Studies have underlined that the legislature may adopt several tools to oversee the actions of the executives such as hearings in committees, hearings in the plenary assembly, the creation of inquiry committees, leaders’ questions, question time, the interpellations and the ombudsman (Pelizzo et al., 2006:8; Maffio, 2002 & Pennings, 2000). The key functions of leaders’ oversight can be described as follows. At the core of this function is the protection of liberties of citizens, to detect and prevent abuse, arbitrary behaviour or unconstitutional conduct on the part of the government and public agencies. It detects waste within the machinery of public agencies. Thus, it can improve the efficiency, economy and effectiveness of government operations and hold the government to account in respect of how the taxpayers’ money is used. Ensuring that that policies are actually delivered includes monitoring the achievement of goals set by legislation and to improve the transparency of operations and enhance public trust, which is itself a condition of effective policy delivery.
However, as to Blackburn and Kennon (2003:6) “the government is not the only source of in-put of business for leaders. Much business originates from the opposition. The inspiration for their input is largely found in general public opinion, outside pressures or interest groups, newspapers, radio and television, and in the minds and attitudes of millions of citizens represented in the Com-mons by Members”. Leaders, therefore, finds itself the recipient of a wide range of external pressures and proposals, broadly divided between the governments on the one hand and the outside world - the public on the other. The prerequisite for policy making process is the existence of strong and competent leadership body. No country can have a workable democracy, with adequate avenues for citizens to be heard and without a vibrant and meaningful leadership (Ornstein, 1992:1).
Nonetheless, in almost every nation around the world, there is a gap between leadership powers to hold the executive to account (Power, 2012:16). However, since recent times, optimistic practices have been emerging even in the most criticized Sub-Saharan Africa. Joel Barkan (2009), in a wide-ranging study of leadership development in Africa, suggests that the situation is changing, with leaders evolv¬ing out of their role as rubber stamps for the executive and becoming more effective as watchdogs, policy-makers and representatives. Leaderships has to make effort not only to promote the public participation in the policy making process but also to perform representation functions.
The first and foremost characteristic of a leadership is its intrinsic link to the citizens of the nation or state – representation. In a representative democracy, they act as the eyes, ears and voice of the people (Ornstein, 1992:2). The other dimension to constituency activity consists in ensuring that local experience informs national policy-making. through their interaction with voters, local MPs gain enormous expertise about the impact of policy decisions and legislation at the local level. That direct experience is often far greater that of the civil servants and ministers responsible for drafting and implement¬ing legislation, but is rarely used by leaders in any systematic fashion to shape legislation. Instead, it is most frequently due to the initiative of individual politicians that the experience of citizens is used as a policy resource (Greg Power, 2012:66).
Leaders also need to have means of engaging and influencing the public. Openness and being accessible to the voter and taxpayer is a crucial feature of leaderships. Most leaders have sought to improve their outreach in the basic provision of information, especially through the development of visitors’ centers, open days and events – based on the insight that, in order to interest people in the leaders, there is no substitute for physical access. Because leaders’ outreach will ever physically touch only a small proportion of the population, the key means for informing citizens about public affairs, and a key channel of communication between leaders and public. In their investigative role, the media have always been seen as a ‘watchdog’ against all kinds of abuse. How well they fulfil these functions is vital for the quality of democratic life. Given the tendency for these functions to become distorted, whether by executive partiality in a state-controlled system, or by powerful economic interests in a commercialized one, leaders have key democratic role in setting an appropriate legal framework for the media, to ensure both their independence and their diversity (Beetham, 2006:6).
Another essential function of leaders in the policy making process is entertaining of public petition. Any citizen or group of citizens may prepare and sign a petition to the house on any matter in which the house has jurisdiction to interfere (Blackburn & Kennon, 2003:380). They extend their account by indicating that the petition must be presented to the house by a member. Policy is nothing without budget allocation, hence, it is a component of the policy making process. A law without a budget is simply rhetoric and the budget-making process is as critical as the lawmaking process (Hollister, 2007:7). The budget is the most important economic policy tool of a government and provides a comprehensive statement of the priorities of a nation. As the representative institutions of the people, it falls to national leaderships to ensure that the budget optimally matches a nation’s needs with available resources. Effective leadership participation in the budget process establishes checks and balances that are crucial for transparent and accountable government to ensure efficient delivery of public services (Wehner & Byanyima 2004:9).
Leaders’ 'power of the purse' is a fundamental feature of democracy. The vast majority of democratic constitutions require appropriations and taxation measures to be approved by leaders in order to become effective. For this requirement to be more than constitutional fiction though, leaders must ensure that the revenue and spending measures it authorizes are fiscally sound, match the needs of the population with available resources, and are implemented properly and efficiently”. Its options are to approve or reject the budget, to amend it, or, in a few cases, to substitute the draft tabled by the executive with its own budget. In some countries, the leadership passes separate legislation for appropriations and changes to the tax code; in others, it considers a unified budget bill. The exact form of leadership approval is less important than the fact that it must be comprehensive. Principles of authorization of all public spending & taxation ensures the ‘rule of law’ in public finance (Ibid:1, 30-31).
Thus, leadership capacity here entails conceptualization in global categories that are invested with varying local meanings that are themselves in part actualization of trends in international polilitical (and development) such as witnessed in Singapore and the Tiger Economies.
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Access to Health Wellness Implementation of the Abuja Commitment

Access to Health Wellness Implementation of the Abuja Commitment in Africa
Abstract
Pastoralists and trans-boundary populations are under the grip of an unprecedented crisis, heightened by the inability of states to engage readily in the search for answers to the continent’s human insecurity challenges. Across the continent, these populations live in nations that remain in the throes of famine, poverty & violence and continue to suffer the devastating impact of AIDS and STIs and now Ebola. On a positive note, there is a remarkable success in rolling back HIV/AIDS, since the 2001 Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS and ORID. Africa is also at the forefront of the global development agenda today but the challenges for mobile populace remains daunting. Using qualitative data collected from primary and secondary sources, the research has unveiled existing and emerging health challenges that emanate from state fragility, the crises of managing health care and the crises of civic and political leadership in Africa. A state is fragile when the basic functions of the State are no longer performed, they breed widespread internal conflict, revolutionary and ethnic wars, adverse regime change, genocide, politicides, and de facto or de jure loss of state legitimacy. The finding point to the criminal negligence of health care systems in trans-boundary human movements in Africa while simultaneously addressing the need for clear trajectories with strategic entry points to address capacity development needs to stem the tide of pandemics.
Key words: diseases of poverty, human mobility, health systems, state fragility & capacity,
See more here or https://www.academia.edu/9685233/Access_to_Health_Wellness_-_Implementation_of_the_Abuja_Commitment_in_Africa_and_IGAD_countries_Lessons