In order to be a leader do I need to be selected for a prestigious fellowship or scholarship? Or do I have to study abroad and speak English or French fluently? The answers for me is no. What I have observed especially in my country Sudan, leaders and political leaders in particular have contributed by one way or another to make my country less developed and instead of leading us towards a prosperous future we found ourselves in a vicious circle of violence, corruption and failure.
Most of the leaders in my country they come from elite class and they don’t have strong connection with their communities as they spend most of their times travelling from one country to another attending different conferences. So I call this type of leaders (Western made leaders).
I spent almost 3 years in remote and war affected areas, during that time, I have seen very a few leaders coming to those areas and even the parliament members who were elected by communities I rarely see them visiting their constituencies and they usually come back when there is a visit by State Governor or Senior staff from Khartoum Government.
I always say that the problem of Sudan is not lack of resources, we are very rich country – indeed we are among the richest countries in Africa when it comes to natural resources and minerals. But we lack true leaders – grassroots leaders who really care about their communities and who are dedicated to make real differences (locally made leaders)
I am not against studying abroad or receiving fellowships, but the problem is that the people who get these kind of scholarships and fellowships they are the ones who speak English fluently, so, the people who are good in Arabic or other languages are not considered to be eligible to receive these fellowships or scholarships. Unfortunately, in order to get an influential position in my country you need to speak English as well. In other words, people are considered leaders only if they can speak English very well which is not true.
I hope one day we will have grassroots leadership academy or fellowship that will be specialized in grassroots leaders and the language will no longer be a barrier. In my country there are so many talented people who have the possibilities of becoming leaders but unfortunately they don’t get the chance to prove that, if they are given the opportunities to show their leaderships, I am sure we are going to have better leaders who are locally resulted oriented and strongly connected with their communities.
If we have true leaders- grassroots leaders and good governance, our country will be rich and everyone can reach his/her potential. All the success factors of being a strong and leading country are available all we need is a leader who can unify us around one vision who can lead us towards realizing this vision. This leader I am sure will be emerged from grassroots and he/she will change the perspective of leadership in my country.
By Hythem Elnour Abd Elhamid Ibrahim
March 31, 2016