Jonathan tasks African leaders on competent economic teams, tech-driven education

As African nations continue to battle development headwinds, former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has charged leaders not to politicise appointments into key economic positions, stressing that only top-clofessionals and technocrats must be selected to be members of the economic management team.

Dr. Jonathan noted that some African leaders select their cabinet based on relationship or patronage. According to him, hiring competent hands to man major departments in Government is critical to the kind of service delivery Africa needs.

The former President stated this in his keynote speech at the Executive Leadership Retreat organized by the Ghanaian Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Ada, Ghana, on Thursday, where he also observed that most African countries lack top-rate people as members of their economic management team.

Dr. Jonathan also encouraged leaders on the continent to invest in schools for special talents and technology-driven education in order to spur rapid industrialization, economic diversification and technological growth.

The former President commended Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama for making the right call in his appointments, adding that the Ghanaian leader succeeded in setting up a smart cabinet made up of well-educated people.

He said: “First and foremost I appreciate Mahama because I believe he made the right selection for his cabinet. This is a problem in most African countries because often we select our cabinet based on relationship or on patronage.”

These persons, he further said, must possess leadership skills and qualities because leadership is not just about the president alone but about everyone who is part of the government and working to help the leader realise his vision.

Sharing his lived experience in making appointments, Dr. Jonathan said: “In my time, I think I tried a little. I am not an economist but I spotted people like Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, current director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO),  who was not even in Nigeria when we were voting, to run our finance ministry. I also brought Dr. Akin Adesina, current president of the African development bank (AfDB), who was somewhere in Kenya during the elections, to man my agric ministry because I believe in their capacity to deliver. Some of my cabinet members did not even vote for me but I appointed them because of my belief in what they could do for the country.”

He also urged African leaders to always hit the ground running to be able to make meaningful impact in governance, given the short time in a democratic tenure, especially in Ghana and Nigeria where Presidential tenure is four years or maximum eight years.

He said further: “Today, I will not look at what President Mahama can do for Ghana to succeed because he will lead this country only for the next four years. I will rather focus on what this government should do to prepare Ghana for the next 25 years. To the UNDP, if you are supporting us, you have to look at what African countries should do, what should Ghana do, in the next 25 to 30 years to change the dynamics of growth and development.”

Making a case for qualitative and technology driven education on the continent, Dr. Jonathan noted that developing countries that invested strategically in education have continued to develop faster than others.

He said: “Today, six of the top 10 hi-tech companies in America are led by Indians, and these are Indians that were educated in India, not those that schooled in America. The dean of Harvard Business School is an Indian that was educated in India.

“If you look at the examples of countries that have moved faster in development in the past 60 years, like Taiwan, Singapore and India, you will begin to imagine what happened. Why is it that no African country South of the Sahara is having that kind of growth. In the case of Africa, in stead of moving up we are going down?

“The UNDP regional director talked about investing in technology to move our countries forward. I agree but I still see that as a short term approach. If we must move African countries forward, and if Ghana must move forward, then we will not just invest in technology, but we must invest in the people that will create the technology we need.”

The former President stated that during his time as President, he set up the Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development (PRESSID), as a means of sharpening the technological capacity of the country.

Ikechukwu Eze

Special Adviser to H.E. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan