Ex-Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, has advocated for harsher punishment for corrupt leaders in Africa. He recently revealed that Africa, as a continent, has no reason to be hungry if leadership is practised correctly.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to publisher, Dele Momodu, at his residence on Thursday, May 15, Obi revealed that the only reason why most African countries are still poor and underdeveloped is that our leaders are not taking the right steps.
The former Labour Party presidential candidate claimed that Africa as a whole is presently in crisis mode because Africans no longer find value in hard work, productivity and entrepreneurship.
According to him, corruption among elected African leaders must also be addressed as aggressively as it is in China, where corrupt politicians get sentenced to death once caught stealing government money.
“Africa has no reason to be hungry. All we need to do is to do the right thing. All these things are being affected by corruption because people no longer find value in hardwork, in productivity, entrepreneurship. You started your own business. You are working hard to earn your own living. Today, people with no daytime jobs live better than you live. People with no office live like stars. It is a crisis.
So we must deal with the issue of corruption, aggressively. Maybe what the Chinese people are doing..commensurate…There is an amount you steal, it is death sentence. There is an amount you steal, it is life imprisonment. There is an amount you steal, it is not less than ten years imprisonment,” he said.
Peter further said that dealing with corruption drastically and investing in key areas of development can definitely go a long way towards guaranteeing competent leadership across Africa.
He reminded everyone that all elected leaders must also be within the age range that will make them fit enough to rule, reiterating how electing old leaders automatically works against effective governance.
Obi believes that being competent is of no use when a leader is too old to rule, and the purpose of effective leadership is already defeated once the elected person doesn’t have the capacity to move around on his or her own.
“So when you deal with it critically and then start investing in critical areas of development which we can achieve by ensuring that those who we elect are one, competent, two, have the capacity because you can be competent but have passed the age where you have the capacity to work…
You must have the capacity to move around and do the right thing. Three, have compassion. Leadership without compassion is not a leader. A leader must be somebody that 24 hours thinking about the people,” he added.
