Many writers have re-emphasized their emotions and opinions on the behaviourial or style of performance of leaders, which
is either congruent with the role expectations and emotional predispositions of the masses the leader mobilizes behind him, or otherwise. Everyday, people all over the world advocate for the basic ingredients needed for a dynamic and charismatic
leadership of purposefulness and clarity. While it is true that the contemporary social science literature describes leadership as influence of authority, power and control over others, many writers have laid emphasis on effectiveness or performance of leadership.
The overwhelming majority of people expect a leader to have the ability to guide them in the desired direction, so that the decisions of the leader are implemented; the ability to guide and re-structure the collective pattern of behaviour of members of the society; the ability to introduce major innovations into the political process and policies, which are directed towards achieving a politically, economically and socially stable nation; the ability to provide hope at the time of despair - and above all, guarentee the security of the individual.
It is disheartening that in most parts of the world today, people still grapple with questions of pain and anxiety, which arouse scepticism and apprehension about their leaders' ability to provide hope and deliver the goods. Most nations find political stability so elusive that the people yearn for a purposeful leadership - a leader in whom they can entrust their fate and destiny, definitely not a leader who exercises
dictatorial powers over them.
Dictators are produced by circumstances. A dictator, like the seed of a thorn, is born in a domain that gives life to the dictatorship in him and insists that people do what he wants. He is like the thorny thicket choking all plants in the vicinity and whose heart conceives greed and wickedness. He has a predetermined mindset to subjugate the wishes of the people and he gets delighted at the tragic experience of the people, who groan under the burden of his greed; and while his family lives under the comfort of his rule, children of the downtrodden are used to carry out nefarious activities.
Dictatorship is ruinous and moreso, doubly ruinous. It is ruinous not only to the victims of dictatorial rule, but also to the dictator, who holds himself captive and watches his back whereever he goes because he finds ill will in every action of the people. Of course the actions of the people would erode the trust and confidence they reposed in their leader consequent upon his failure to heed the yearnings of the people and mobilize the population effectively.
Leaders in many parts of the world hide under democracy to perpetuate themselves in power regardless of the deleterious effect, which their dictatorial attributes would inflict on the tenets of democracy, rule of law and national unity. It is glaringly clear to everyone that the problems of any nation cannot be solved by a dictator, military or otherwise,however hard he tries and however well-intentioned he might be. It is widely believed that dictatorship cannot produce a fertile nation in whatever shape or form it thrives and if by chance it does, the nation cannot continue to survive for any appreciable length of time as a strong, sound and prosperous nation.
Finally, much of the success of any nation depend on the support, understanding and loyalty of its people, who must be willing to appreaciate the enormity of task before their leader; and also the support and patronage of the international communities, in terms of trade, science and technology, culure and tourism etc. Therefore a nation, which is ruled under the threshold of dictatorial attributes would find political and economic stability elusive.
-SHOLA DADA
(decapapers)
decapoliss@yahoo.com
234-1-8538905