The President of the African School of Governance (ASG), Francis K. Gatare, has said Africa’s governance challenges are not primarily rooted in a shortage of technical expertise but in a deficit of values-driven leadership.
He said while the continent had produced highly qualified professionals across sectors, technical competence alone had not always translated into leadership that met the expectations of citizens.
“We have seen many highly qualified people occupying positions they are trained for, yet not delivering to the expectations of their communities.
Being a good leader requires more than technical skills. It requires a set of values and principles that shape character,” he said.
Mr Gatare was addressing a press conference held at the Rwandan High Commission in Accra last Tuesday as the institution positions itself to train a new generation of ethical and service-oriented leaders.
ASG, a Pan-African postgraduate institution based in Kigali, Rwanda, was co-founded by Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, and former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, to develop leaders committed to ethics, excellence and public service.
Mr Gatare explained that the school’s philosophy rested on three pillars: ethical leadership, pursuit of excellence and service to others.
He stressed that ethics, including transparency, fairness and integrity, could be taught and deliberately cultivated.
He added that excellence meant being uncompromising on quality and resisting mediocrity, while service was a responsibility particularly for those privileged to attain higher education.
Higher education deficit
Citing data that less than 10 per cent of African adults had accessed higher education, Mr Gatare said tertiary education remained a privilege that carried an obligation to serve communities beyond personal advancement.
He, therefore, urged Africans seeking to take up leadership roles across the continent to enrol in the institution and disclosed that the ASG was building partnerships with governments and universities to create a collaborative, continent-wide network of like-minded institutions.
ASG currently offers two master’s degree programmes — a Master’s in Public Administration and an Executive Master’s in Management and Leadership, as well as short executive courses and fellowship programmes targeting both young and senior leaders.
The Young Leaders Programme is designed for high school students and seeks to nurture leadership values early, partly through online engagement.
In contrast, the Senior Leaders Fellowship targets experienced professionals nearing or at retirement, pairing them with younger participants to facilitate cross-generational mentorship.
“We want to capture the experiences of senior leaders — their lessons and even their mistakes and pair them with young people so they can learn and be better leaders,” he said.
AI, emerging technologies
On technology, Mr Gatare said governance and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), were integral to the school’s curriculum.
He said AI was already disrupting teaching, assessment and public administration, requiring leaders who were not intimidated by technological change.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh