Demanding accountability is the way to go

Accountability is a fundamental principle in every human endeavour that ensures sustainability of the system that holds that society or organisation or institution together. 

It is the hallmark of every thriving church, business, educational institution, organisation or nation.  When God created the first human beings, our great grandparents Adam and Eve his wife, God the creator, established the principle of accountability, by telling them what they are allowed to do and what are forbidden. 

Accountability establishes boundaries and therefore it ensures discipline, which guarantees obedience to regulations and laws and their enforcement.

In societies where accountability is entrenched in the social fabric, leaders are very receptive to the demands of the people.  In such societies, resignation of leaders, when they misconduct themselves in public office, is a common practice.  Accountability breeds a culture of moral responsibility, in which citizens value honesty, integrity, love for humanity, selflessness etc. 

These are values that are required in people who want to lead in various capacities in leadership roles in any country that seeks to develop.  A realisation that, leadership roles in public office is servant leadership is the key to effective leadership.  

However, we have an unfortunate situation in our part of the world, especially in West Africa, where we have imported cultural or traditional practices, into our governance system.  Persons in leadership roles, see themselves as Chiefs and Kings, instead of servants.  This is what has hampered our development over the years.

We need to have a paradigm shift, where the President and all his appointees and leaders in state organisations and institutions and even leaders in the society as a whole, should realise that they are servants of the people they lead and not the other way round. 

We are in a country where a former Minister could take the law into his hands, arrest a taxi driver who nearly got the Minister’s vehicle to be involved in an accident and take him into captivity, instead of taking him to the police station.  We have parliamentarians, seeking to seek a new office when there is nothing wrong with the current one. 

They are prioritising their comfort above that of the needs of the populace, because we still have a lot of schools under trees.

There is a need to rethink how we can conscientise our society, regarding our perception of what leadership means.  The leaders are selected from the general society and therefore our leaders are a reflection of who we are.  If the larger society is made of morally upright people, our leaders will not be of a different character. 

A person gets elected into office and he immediately changes his phone number denying the people who voted him into office.  He or she suddenly sees himself or herself as a big person, higher in status than the rest of us mere mortals and that is why you write an official letter to a Minister and seven months later, you do not get a response, despite follow ups. 

If he were to see himself as a servant to the people, how on earth would he not have responded.  It shows clearly, what his priorities are and his perception of how he sees himself in relation to his clients, the people wanting to see him.  We need to embark on a rigorous educational drive to let people know that to be a leader in public office implies servanthood that is you are a servant of the people and not the other way around and therefore cannot impose their will on us. God bless.

By Laud Kissi-Mensah