LEADERSHIP: A DIVINE CALLING NOT AN INHERITANCE

I believe i am not the only person who times without number have heard this phrase, ' like father like son.' While it's inarguably true that we inherit genes from our parents, leadership isn't an inherited disposition but a divine calling that must be nurtured for fruation .
The greatest problem that have continued to vitiate the minds of most Kenyans is the mentality that you can become a leader just because your father was a ruler.
Kindly allow me to give you a perfect analogical example that will help you understand my conscious force of reason. The bible says; 'Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.' Mark 10:9 

This is a scripture whose objective is to warn a third party from disintegrating a marriage joined by God. These scriptures notwithstanding, what we fail to understand is that ; not all marriages are joined by God.
The above scenario is applicable when it comes to leadership. Times without number I have heard people say that we shouldn't raise a finger to our leaders since they are appointed by God. In the same manner that some marriages aren't joined by God, not all leaders are appointed by God. That's why the ones that aren't appointed by God are so insensitive to humanity as they rule us with an iron fist instead of exercising servanthood-leadership on us.
In my motherland to be precise, most of the so called leaders are just but rulers who are power drunken with a sole objective of feeding their insatiable greed. Their quest for leadership has nothing to do with improving the lives and livelihoods of the ordinary people but a golden opportunity to enrich themselves through the taxpayer's money. That's why becoming a politician in Kenya is a matter of life and death. In the words of Michela Wrong, 'it's our turn to eat.'
When the founding father of our neighboring country Tanzania,  the late mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere said that Kenya is a man eat man nation, he was right. And when Josiah Mwangi Kariuki popularity known as JM said that Kenya is a nation of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars, he too was right.
Getting back to our neighbor Tanzania, we have a lot to learn from them. After the fierce struggle that liberated Tanzania from colonialism on 9th December 1961, as a true leader, mwalimu Julius Nyerere took an initiative of uniting the 120 tribes in Tanzania to one united nation. Today, despite having 120 tribes, Tanzania is an enthicity free country. On the other hand, unlike most of the African presidents, he never saw the need of clinging onto power. In 1985, he relinquished his post voluntarily saying that he was paving way for new leadership and new ideologies. To this day, neither his children, nor the children of the other four presidents who came after him have ever run for presidency in Tanzania.
This is a valid proof that leadership isn't a  matter of inheritance but a divine calling that must be nurtured and proven through a track record of servanthood that changes people's lives and livelihoods way before running for a public office. Although we have previously made a mistake of perceiving leadership to be an inheritance and voted the wrong people into leadership positions, kindly let's not repeat this costly mistake again. Once bitten twice shy.
If Tanzanian is a far distance to learn from, we can learn from Mwai Kibaki who was the 3rd president of our beloved motherland and so far the very best president that Kenya have ever had. This is a great man who came from a humble background and greatly changed the economy of Kenya to a middle income economy within five years of his presidency. 
It's very unfortunate that we have eyes but we don't see, ears but we don't hear. Failed leadership cannot be salvaged by BBI. Unless we become true to ourselves, we will continue to change our constitution instead of changing our mindset. Likewise, we will continue to vote more politicians to power instead of demanding the present ones to serve us efficiently and effectively.
"Every Kenyan man, woman and child is entitled to a decent and just living. That is a birthright. It is not a privilege." Even though these true words of JM may have costed his life, hitherto, we have no choice but to speak true to power. As we come closer to the 2022 general elections, my question remains; will you vote a leader with a track record of serving Kenyans relentlessly or will you vote a son or a daughter of a former someone? Although the choice is all yours, kindly be informed that choices have consequences. 

JOHN JOSEPH POMBE MAGUFULI: A TRUE LEADER NOT A POLITICIAN

Born to a peasant farmer on 29th day of October 1959 in Chato villige along the shores of lake Victoria in Tanganyika which is present day Tanzania, Dr. John Joseph Pombe Magufuli, aka Bulldozer/ JPM was raised by a single mother after his father's demise while JPM was a young boy. His poor upbringing not withstanding, he became an iconic visionary and a servant leader who has set an extremely high presidency threshold in Tanzania and indeed in the entire continent of Africa.
As a bachelor's, masters and doctrate degree holder, JPM started off as a high school teacher and then an industrial chemist who would later become a member of parliament, an assistant minister and then a minister in different government dockets and eventually get elected on October 2015 to become the 5th president of the republic of Tanzania.
Without any doubt whatsoever, JPM was a visionary and servant leader who slowly but surely climbed the ladder of leadership with total leadership acumen leaving a great legacy in every step of his way, his presidency notwithstanding.
Tha fact that he was a locally sourced leader with both integrity and intelligence and never left Africa to any western country for further studies is something we Africans should learn from. The lesson is; Africa has the potential of producing highly educated people and nurturing great morals and ethics if we liberate ourselves from mediocrity and mental slavery that makes us think that nothing good can come out of Africa.  JPM was a living proof of my claim since he was a visionary and a servant leader who earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees locally in the university of Dares Salaam plus an honorary doctorate from the university of Dodoma for appreciably improving the economy of Tanzania. In myriad cases, most people who leave mother Africa to study aboard develop a certain kind of laxity and a negative perception that hinder them from going back home to apply the acquired knowledge towards improving mother Africa. My fellow Africans in the diaspora, mother Africa is calling. 
JPM was a president who saw no need of holding public holidays which would cost taxpayers an arm and a leg. His idea saw the cancellation of independence day celebrations where he declared it a national clean-up day and requested Tanzanians to spend the day cleaning up their cities and towns. The photo taken while he was collecting trash within the vicinity of the state house went viral,  trending with a hashtag #whatwouldMagufulido. By canceling foreign trips for government officials and declaring that government meetings should be held in state buildings in place of expensive hotels, he was able to save 429 million dollars annually. And for those who might have missed his big three agenda memo, the man was out to intensively fight corruption, laziness and excessive bureaucracy without fear or favour. Making incognito raids in government offices was habitual. His raids saw myriad civil servants fired for absenteeism, laxity, dishonesty and unprofessionalism. It didn't matter whether you were a sacrosanct government official or not. If he deemed you to be a dereliction, your goose was cooked. Any nonperformer government official who had mysteriously escaped what was dubbed as 'operation squeeze the boil,' (not the Samidoh version ) during JPM's surprise office raids, there wasn't a safe haven for you. Sooner or later, you had to brace multitude shame of being fired in public. Unlike my former late president of 24 years who had the audacity to hire and fire government officials of different ranks on the roadside for his own political interests, JPM did so out of visionary and servant-hood leadership and for a progressive welfare and the best interest of his fellow Tanzanians.
From corrupt civil servants to ghost workers who were costing the government of Tanzania a sum of 2 million dollars per month, not a single one of them was wise enough to escape JPM's scythe.
His leadership was neither rhetorical nor theoretical, it was a practical, visionary and servant-hood leadership that brought a total transformation in the lives of Tanzanians. From free primary and high school education to free healthcare  for the elderly, relentless fight against drug trafficking, construction of roads, bridges, railways and port, tax collection reform among others, his government had zero tolerance in laziness, corruption and inefficiency and ineffective service delivery to the citizens. In his fullness of power, he never believed that he was a politician. He perceived himself as a servant of the people who cared less about honorable titles. His persona portrayed humility at its best. 

Nonetheless, it goes without saying that; no matter how great you are, you cannot please everyone. To put it in a biblical context; 'He came to his own and his own rejected him.' John 1:11.
Unfortunately, just like Jesus, JPM wasn't an exception to this scriptures. He had a legion of critics. While his supporters believed that the country had been in shambles for the longest and that he was a God sent leader to transform their lives and livelihood together with the lives of future generations, his critics perceived him as a dictator.
From my school of conscious thoughts, I can understand the critics argument. Most of them were beneficiaries of corruption from the previous governments who were robbed the luxury of self-enrichment through embezzlement of taxpayer's money which was a total unethical act that had for years impoverished Tanzanians. 
If remaining adamant on the issues of fighting the decades old unethical dragon namely corruption is dictatorship, I am hesitant to accord his critics their biased dues but hasty to let them know that; democracy isn't a matter of one size fits all. 

As the world mourns JPM, the people of the republic of Tanzania and the rest of the 54 African States are also mourning the loss of a true PanAfrican leader who served as the chairman of Southern African Development Community. We however mourn him with mixed thoughts of heartfelt gratitude for a life well lived and on the other hand, we have a deep concern whether Africa will ever have another leader of his kind. Indeed, he was the new sheriff in town.

Although the future of Africa looks grim in the absence of JPM, I am so confident that; he fought a good fight, he finished the race and he kept the faith. 

FARE THEE WELL PATRIOT. 

HANDOUT MINDSET

Times without number I have said that; the greatest battles are won or lost between your ears. It doesn't matter how often you get motivated or by whom, every moment your mind perceive a defeat mentality, your entire body registers failure spontaneously.
Although fleeing oneself from mediocrity is extremely demanding, I beg to differ with Michel de Montaigne who once said, "Poverty of goods is easily cured but poverty of the mind is irreparable.” Although it's inarguably true that a defeat mindset begets poverty, with a visionary mind and relentless efforts, success awaits. 

In other words; poverty is just but a defeat mindset. The moment you shall believe without a smidgen doubt the words that apostle Paul used when he addressed the Christian church in Philippi; 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,' Philippians 4:13 that's the moment you shall begin to free your mind from mediocrity.
One mediocre mindset that we have to free ourselves from is the handouts mindset. The fact that we have baptized it with a more enticing name; bursary dosen't exclude it from being a handout. School bursaries are just but handouts that have fostered a mediocre mindset among many Africans for decades. Having a mindset that you can't afford to educate your children unless the government helps is a mediocre mentality. Unfortunately, most of us are now victims of our own mediocre mindset and our politicians can now lure us with ease into voting for them through school bursaries and endless empty promises. The truth of the matter is; the government is never interested in positively improving the economic policies that will create jobs lest we become economically independent and rob our politicians their 'golden chance' of extorting public funds to enrich themselves and to bribe us in the name of handouts so that we can vote them into their political seats for a continuous cycle of extortion and corruption. 

To my American friends who can't relate with bursaries, i am sure you can relate with food stamps that most recipients perceive as a way of efficiency in executing government policies but fail to understand that; food stamps are great enticements that render you to a comfort zone and restrain you from applying your full force of reason on how you can liberate yourself from mediocrity to greatness. In other words, just like bursaries, food stamps robs you the ability to think of your greatness and your remarkable potential of how daring you must be to step out of the confines of mediocrity into luxuriation of greatness. 
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. While politicians don't like the latter part of this qoute, they are so passionate about the former part since it's the part that they have for a very long time used to render their empty promises in order to feed their greed of being voted into office. My interpretation of this qoute is; every time you allow someone to give you a livelihood rather than teaching you how to earn a living, you render that person the power to determine when you are hungry, what and when to feed you. In other words, you subject your life and that of your family under his or her mercy.

It's extremely unfortunate that this is the life that most people lead on daily basis. We have given our so called leaders too much 'power' because of our mediocre mindset and they have for a very long time continued to take advantage of our mediocrity by impoverishing us and later  giving us smidgen handouts from the same resources they extort from us. 

As much as politicians aren't angels who should walk scot free on all ill matters of their failed leadership, I am raising awareness on our laxity that have continued to hold us in a 'comfort zone' regardless of our mediocrity. 
Noting that we are living in the days where most people are upgrading their smartphones now and then, why are we so reluctant to renew their mindset as often as we do with our gadgets? Just like the biblical words in Romans 12:2; '..... but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' 'Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God,' if you have a pressing need to transform your life, you must first transform your mind. In other words, transformation of your mind is the first step towards the transformation of your life lest you live in mediocrity. 
On the other hand, transforming your mind becomes easier when you have long-term challenging goals that keeps you on your toes. In a comfort zone, there's no growth but mediocrity. You must always subject yourself to challenges in order to develop yourself. If your dreams for success don't scare you, they're too easy to achieve and mostly likely they are just moderate. I do believe that; failure is not aiming high and missing, it's aiming low and hitting.
It's also extremely imperative to know that transforming your mind is a personal responsibility not a collective one. Nonetheless, choosing the right friends who will constantly challenge your thoughts is a great way to help you in transforming your mind. You're an average of the five people whom you hangout with. If your friends aren't challenging your thoughts, your life is in a stagnation. It's time to break that friendship and make new friends who can positively challenge your thoughts and keep your mind engaged.