“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence – it is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
George Washington
People refer to the above-quoted statement whenever they want to argue that good speeches alone do not make good governance.
As a nation, Africa has been blessed with great orators who inspired their people with great speeches. From the likes of Nelson Mandela of South Africa to John Nkrumah of Ghana, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania down to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Uhuru Kenyatta, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and so on.
In this piece, we shall look at the top 5 most vocal current heads of state in Africa vis-à-vis their performance in office.
1. William Ruto of Kenya
The savvy-looking President of Kenya is fast becoming one of Africa’s finest voices within and beyond Africa. Since he assumed office as the 5th President of Kenya on the 13th day of September 2022, Ruto has dazzled his audience with captivating speeches.
In one of his great speeches made at the 2023 IGW African Leadership Ceremony with Mo Ibrahim, Ruto condemned the recent craze of African heads of state travelling en masse to foreign countries in search of financial aid.
While citing the embarrassing scenario which played out during the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC where 50 African leaders packed themselves to the U.S. to see President Joe Biden, only to be disappointed as they could not have a one-on-one with him, Ruto brilliantly stated thus:
…it is not intelligent for 54 of us to go and sit before one gentleman from another place. And sometimes we are mistreated. We are loaded into buses like school kids. It’s not right… So the decision that we have made as AU is that going forward if there is going to be a discussion between Africa and any other country, we are going to be represented by the chair (of the African Union Commission).
Impressed by Ruto’s intelligence, the European Parliament invited him to deliver a keynote address on the need for increased global collaboration to fight climate change, combat poverty and tackle conflicts.
Appearing as a guest speaker before the European Parliament on the 21st day of November 2023, Ruto delivered a breathtaking speech which got members of the European Parliament on their feet as they applauded him with a standing ovation.
In terms of governance, however, Ruto hasn’t marched his speeches with actions. His country, Kenya, is still plagued by the harsh reality of a dwindling economy with the value of his country’s currency on a decline. There are also reports of human rights abuses against Ruto’s government e.g., his clamp down on his major political opponent, Raila Amolo Odinga, and his supporters.
2. Paul Kagame of Rwanda
Charismatically smart and intelligent, Rwanda’s former military leader, Kagame, has become a force to reckon with in international politics. The no-nonsense President who has been at the helm of affairs in Rwanda since 2000 is widely liked for his ability to deliver captivating speeches.
For instance, during the African Development Bank’s annual meeting which was held on the 20th May 2014, Kagame fearlessly and bluntly challenged his colleagues – fellow African heads of state – to take full responsibility for all the crises plaguing Africa and to take action to address them instead of always running to the US or Europe for help. In his words:
When I am watching on television, I find our leaders who should be addressing African problems…wait until they are invited to go to Europe…Why does anybody wait for that? What image does it even give about us, about Africa? The image it gives is that we are not there to address these problems. We are there for a photo opportunity. We are happy to sit there in Paris with the President of France, and just talk…It doesn’t make sense that our leaders cannot get themselves together to address problems affecting our people. It doesn’t make sense…African leaders don’t need to be invited anywhere to go and address our problems without first inviting ourselves to come together to tell each other the actual truth about our problems.
Kagame is also admired for the ease with which he smartly addresses any seemingly problematic issue thrown his way by journalists. On several occasions, the lanky-looking President has floored journalists who came at him with interrogating questions over his style of leadership in Rwanda.
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There is a viral video of his interview with a BBC journalist where he categorically stated that he does not need to be lectured by a BBC journalist or any other person on handling human rights in his country.
In another interview with France 24, Kagame humbled one Catherine Nicholson, after the latter confronted him on allegations of human rights abuses in his country.
Angered by the constant probing of his government by the West, Kagame accused Western media of double standards when it comes to issues of human rights as he referred his interviewer to the highly unreported cases of immigrants who die in Mediterranean seas after being dumped out of western countries. Kagame berated the West for claiming superiority in knowledge of right and wrong. According to him:
You need to stop this superiority complex nonsense about human rights. You think you are the only ones who respect human rights… We’ve fought for [the] human rights of our people much better than anyone including you who keep[s] talking about this nonsense…Where we have taken our country from and where it is now speaks for itself. The rest of the stories just come from this complex. These are two worlds where there are people who know everything about human rights and all kinds of things and the other world where people don’t know. These are our human rights, the things we respect in our countries is not for you and it’s not for anybody, it’s for ourselves.
Concerning government, Kagame has been an effective administrator. He has completely changed the fortune of his country, Rwanda. The country has recorded remarkable progress since Kagame came to power.
Kagame is however criticised for his handling of human rights issues. Several reports indict him of using force and intimidation to suppress his political opponents and critics. He is also considered a non-democratic leader having ruled Rwanda for over 24 years with no plans of stepping aside as he is about to be re-elected for another tenure this year with many fearing that he might remain in office till 2035.
3. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda
Museveni’s dictatorial side may have overshadowed his oratory prowess but no one who takes time to listen to his speeches would deny that he is blessed with eloquence.
His autocratic mien notwithstanding, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is one of Africa’s most vocal heads of state today. The 79-year-old who has led Uganda since 1986 is known for making daring speeches in assertion or defence of his beliefs.
For example, a news article published by Aljazeera records a bold answer given by Museveni to an American journalist who questioned his reign as the President of Uganda for over 40 years. Answering the question, Museveni stated as follows:
Well, the United States was founded in 1623… and America did not get elections until 1776… The Americans built United States for more than 100 years without democracy, without elections. For us, we have been able to rebuild and consolidate Uganda with democracy from the very beginning, so countries have different histories.
Another of Museveni’s bold utterances relates to his stance on homosexuality. Since he signed a very harsh anti-gay law in his country, which provides the death penalty for ‘serial offenders’, Museveni has been making very provocative statements targeted at the West and all other critics of the law. To him, homosexuals are abnormal people who are suffering from psychological disorientation. According to him:
The problem is that, yes, you are disoriented. You have got a problem to yourself. Now, don’t try to recruit others. If you try to recruit people into a disorientation, then we go for you. We punish you,
Governance-wise, Museveni is widely considered an autocratic ruler. Most Ugandans see him as an oppressor who rules the country with an iron hand. There are several reports which accuse him of muzzling dissent voices through massive arrests and persecution of his political opponents and critics.
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Concerning the economy, Museveni has yet to show for his over 40 years of clinging to power as Uganda remains majorly undeveloped and poor.
4. Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana
When Nana Akufo-Addo defeated former Ghanaian President, John Mahama, in the 2017 Presidential elections, most Ghanaians had reasons to believe that the emergence of Akufo-Addo would mark the beginning of effective governance in Ghana. Being the first to unseat an incumbent, he came into power holding so much promise for his countrymen.
In the first few weeks after his inauguration as President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo made a series of impressive speeches that suggested that he had come for some serious business. For example, during a joint press briefing with President Emmanuel Macron of France in 2017, Nana Akufo-Addo exhibited the aura of a leader who is possessed of an elite mentality when he made a clarion call for Africans to quit being beggarly in their relationship as follows:
We can no longer continue to make policy for ourselves, for our country on the basis on whatever support the western world or France or the European Union can give us…We have to get away from this mindset of dependency…It has not worked, and it will not work… France will do whatever it wants to do for its own sake, and when those coincide with ours, ‘tant mieux’ [so much the better] as the French people say. But our main responsibility as leaders, as citizens, is what we need to do to grow our own countries.
It is now over 6 years since Nana Akufo-Addo made the above speech and since he embarked on what he calls “Ghana Beyond Aid,” yet his Ghana, like the rest of other African states, still lobbies and jostles for foreign aid and grants. As recent as the year 2023, Nana Akufo-Addo-led Ghana gladly received the sum of $150 million from the World Bank as “additional financing support from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project 2 (GPSNP 2) to expand and enhance social safety nets and provide access to productive income generating opportunities for the poor.”
5. Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia
The story of how Hakainde Hichilema emerged as the 7th President of Zambia in 2021 is as inspiring as his personality. Before winning the Zambian Presidential election, Hichilema had earlier contested the same post in five previous elections, all of which he lost. He had a rough time challenging former President, Edgar Lungu, who once imprisoned him for months because he was seen as a political threat.
As the President of Zambia, Hichilema has been so articulate in his speech. He’s made quite a good number of impressive speeches at different functions. In one of his speeches during a special meeting with Zambian Authorities, Hichilema berated public officeholders who use taxpayers’ monies to fund their extravagant lifestyles. In his words:
If you want to drive a VX, buy your own. Why do you want to pretend? Why do you pretend? Because you are using taxpayers’ money? Why do you want a VX? Why do you want a $200,000 car when that money could be used to build toilets in all the markets in your constituency? Town clerk wants a V8, mayor wants a VX, deputy mayor wants a V6…whose money are you using? I have not bought any new vehicle cause I am conscious this is not my money.
Though it is still very early to conclusively adjudge his performance in office, President Hichilema has succeeded in outdoing his predecessors in many respects, particularly with regard to following the rule of law, upholding democracy, tackling corruption and bettering the image of Zambia, internationally.
