New Partnership for Africa s Development. Republic of Uganda. Seminar on Public Sector Leadership Capacity Development for Good Governance in Africa

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1 African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development New Partnership for Africa s Development United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Republic of Uganda Seminar on Public Sector Leadership Capacity Development for Good Governance in Africa Kampala, Uganda, January 2004 Openning Speech by Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi Minister of Public Service and Administration (South Africa) and Chairperson of the 4 th Pan-African Conference of African Ministers of Public Service

2 Opening Speech by Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi Minister of Public Service and Administration (South Africa) and Chairperson of the 4 th Pan-African Conference of African Ministers of Public Service H.E Honourable Henry Kajura, Deputy Prime-Minister and Minister of Public Service of Uganda H.E Dr Mahgoub Tagelisir, Minister of State for Labour and Administrative Reform, Sudan Fellow Ministers of Public Service The Ambassador to Italy Mr Guido Bertucci, Director UNDESA/DPADM The Director of the Ugandan Management Institute The Director-General of CAFRAD The Deputy-Director General of NEPAD Delegates to this Seminar The Africa of today is a continent that faces unprecedented opportunity, to engage the developed world in trade and cultural exchanges, to build relationships of mutual benefit with other developing nations of the South, and to firmly arrest the relentless spread of poverty and marginalisation that has haunted us for so many decades. For African leaders such as yourselves, this is both a collective process and an individual challenge. It is therefore a great pleasure for me to join you at this, most important, seminar on Public Sector Leadership Capacity Development for Good Governance in Africa. In addition to demonstrating a commitment to the course of leadership and to provide some guiding thoughts on the leadership s development challenges that stand before us, I always welcome the opportunity to travel to this most beautiful country. As you well know Prime Minister, I have been here before and, as always, the beauty of Uganda and the great lake region continues to captivate me. This is indeed an ideal setting for this historic seminar. We are indeed at many turning points in Africa. In the area of Governance and Public Administration, we demonstrated our commitment to take ownership and responsibility for the development and capacity of our public sector institutions at the 4 th Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Public Service, held in South Africa (May 2003). This seminar takes the commitment further by beginning to engage in the detail of building capable leaders for our institutions. We are indeed grateful to UNDESA and CAFRAD for supporting this initiative and to Uganda for hosting and organising the seminar. We are particularly pleased that the organisers agreed to allow the Ministers to hold a meeting of the Committee of Ministers responsible for oversight over the NEPAD Programme on Governance and Public Administration. The Committee will meet in this venue for a few hours tomorrow and all Ministers present are invited to attend. In addition to providing political leadership over Governance and Public Administration in the continent, the participation of Ministers at this seminar, is an important step in the direction of crafting leadership development interventions that are appropriate for the African context and the political, economic and social realities we confront. It is with this in mind that I would like to make some initial opening remarks on Public Administration in Africa and share some thoughts on the leadership development challenge. My hope is

3 that these comments and the inputs from my colleagues and other delegates will help shape the direction of future leadership development interventions in the continent. Aime Cessaire suggested that There are two ways of losing oneself: through fragmentation in the particular or dilution in the universal. The challenge in getting a grip on Africa in general and discussing Africanising Public Administration in particular is one of How do we understand the particularity of African without losing sense of universal/ widely shared knowledge, experience and history? A further dilemma is to factor in sufficient distinction and diversity within the concept of African. We need to be very weary of an uncritical perception that suggests similarity and unanimity in value and behaviour across a very big continent which experienced many diverse influences and that has consequently developed its own systems on different tracts. We also need to be careful to label something as African simply because it is voiced, demonstrated or embraced by a person from African origin. If the Zulu warrior Shaka believed in a particular management philosophy, does it make it African by definition or is it Shaka s personal (or at best a Zulu) philosophy? In these matters we need to be very careful how we move from the specific to the general. A critical assessment of the status of public administration and governance on the African continent today will reveal the mark left by various colonial processes. At the same time we have to be aware of the neglect of indigenous administrative models and efforts and the reliance, sometimes excessively so, on foreign models. Notwithstanding the importance of public sector leadership in the continent, we are faced with more questions than answers and the empirical base for further engagements on this issue is fairly thin. It is thus critical that there be further research and dialogue on the leadership challenge and, in particular, on how we might visualise and establish specific leadership development interventions. Naturally, this seminar will enhance dialogue and would be a good platform for building the empirical foundations for the conclusions we make. To encourage this process of reflection and the search for optimal leadership development strategies, allow me to pose some questions.. What are the unique challenges that are facing African leadership at the beginning of the 21 st Century? What are the demands that these challenges will place on the leadership style both administratively and politically speaking? Is there some challenges lodged in the political-administrative interface in Africa given our history that is different from other parts of the world? Does these pose its own unique challenges for both political and administrative leadership? What would these be and how are we to respond successfully? Is there a uniquely African leadership style that has been corrupted by the colonial experience? What are the essential elements of such a style? Is it possible to regenerate this? Will such a style be amenable to the context of the modern state? Can Africa contribute to the development of international public administration thinking? 3

4 What are the challenges in terms of leadership development in Africa? What curricula are we to use? How do we manage the influences that come through the literature that we read, the cases that we study, the tools that we teach? How are we to manage the mobility of human capital in order to prevent a braindrain from Africa in general, and the public service specifically? How are African leaders managing diversity on ethnical, cultural, linguistic and religious grounds? Given our shortcomings in terms of empirical research and understanding, is it possible for us to draw from our African philosophical routes in order to re-establish African thinking on the field? Many would argue that it would be difficult. In the first instance the ancient African philosophy is in general not sufficiently adequate for conditions of the modern African state. They are also very conservatively minded. Modern African philosophy is also found wanted for purposes of giving direction to public administration. Scholars of African philosophy indicate that this genre of philosophy is very biased and morally much too simple to provide direction. With few exceptions such as the francophone philosophers/ political scientists Achille Mbembe and Amadou Hampate Ba, the philosophical underpinnings for a modern Africanised public administration is fairly deplete. Nevertheless, there is some undeniable influence in the African mindset and value system that distinguishes it from that of a more Western or Eurocentric approach and that is relevant for our thinking about public administration and hence, public sector leadership development. In some instances, these represent an ideal-type organisational behaviour that others are hankering to imitate and embrace in their own management style and organisations. In research carried out in 1995 entitled Toward a Theory of Afrocentric Organizations, it was found that the Afrocentric organisation is based on the philosophical orientation of harmony, spirituality and humanistic/ people-oriented principles with basic administration elements that include support of all members, communal management style and prioritising people over profit. These characteristics contrast sharply with the Eurocentric organisational model that tends to embrace materialism, hierarchical control, bottom-line profits and competition. In terms of the applied relevance vis-à-vis the NEPAD initiative and the work of the African Union, the ongoing discourse and advocacy of these matters are important to raise the profile of public administration and the implications thereof in terms of Africa s development needs and agenda. Currently the trend is to focus on the political dimension of governance, with public administration and public sector leadership development issues being relegated to the periphery of the work in the African Union as well as in NEPAD initiatives. This situation needs to be remedied if we are not to face serious problems further along the road to Africa s recovery. 4

5 In terms of the restoration of African influence in public administration and public sector leadership development on the continent as well as exporting our insights to the mainstream of current public administration and governance thinking, the responsibility rests on academics to take up the challenge to improve our understanding of our uniquely African position on these matters. I Thank You 5