I reviewed 2015 using sporting analogies without thinking I would so soon afterward go down the same route or use the same method.

I have never followed football with anything like the passion of my brothers and many of my friends as I see the beautiful game as simply that; rather beautiful to watch and no way near meriting the claim that it is more important than a matter of life and death.  However, during a recent tussle with insomnia, I happened upon a rather strange but strong similarity between recent footballing events and the history of nations.

Manchester United’s performances post-Alex Fergusson and Brazil’s collapse after the exit of Neimah at the 2014 FIFA World Cup suggest too much reliance on one individual is a strategy without resilience. Interestingly, a look at the history of nations tells us the strongman syndrome, a tendency to have one person as the fountain of all power and focus of all efforts is not one that is consistent with enduring progress, security or stability. Just as some football clubs and nations have crumbled on the departure or incapacitation of individuals upon whom so much was made to depend, countries have struggled and gone into periods of significant instability with the loss of leaders who were elevated to the status of indispensable. Countries thought of as strong and stable degenerated into implosive conflicts on the demise of their strongmen as the systems that kept the grip on their affairs flew off like improperly placed pressure cooker lids.  Surprisingly, my mother continent seems determined to ignore the experiences of other places and repeat the mistakes for which heavy prices have already been paid.

Barack Obama commands a lot of respect in Africa with many of the people seeing him as a son of that continent, and many of the leaders thinking of him as one of them.  However, stony faces have greeted his calls for a different kind of politics on the continent and the release of spin doctors who are more adept to salad dodging than speaking the truth has often been the response.  Needless to say, Obama’s 2009 declaration that “Africa doesn’t need strong men; it needs strong institutions” is not one that endeared him to leaders on the continent.  The strongman seems to be a genetic defect in Africa’s leadership and anyone needing proof of what I mean only needs to look at what has played out in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, etc., etc., as well as hear what is being muttered with growing volume in Sierra Leone to understand what I mean.

Those who have read or even been bored by previous rants from me probably appreciate I have a thing about leadership and how it is exercised for the greater good of people. This greater good could range from the fans on the terrace who wish to see their team lift a trophy and bring glory to their communities, towns or nations through to the people of a nation desperately hoping their country could be placed on a path away from crushing poverty, far from adequate utilities, not fit for purpose education and health systems, terrorising disease outbreaks… and the rest. So, where am I going with this?

My focus is not about the competence or otherwise of those who hold power in the various countries that make up a continent I love so much. I find myself concerned with the instability stored by the attitude that without a particular person – who we all know is mortal and will die one day – a nation cannot function.  Why we cannot have people come in and do what they must and can with the time given under the prevailing conditions without attempts to play around with the rules that allowed them the opportunity is beyond me.  We have people who got the privilege to be the top of the tree seeking to tamper with the rules that allowed them the honour in order to deprive others the same chance.  All in, we get people getting contemptuous of their people, and even worse disrespectful of their countries.

I look at great leaders and systems and see that greatness has often come out of acknowledging that there is something more important than the individual and his desires.  We must have things we serve that allow us to be proud to serve as well as accepting of the fact that we are mere pieces in a greater scheme.  Additionally, those who take power must understand they do so without conditions with respect to events while in post.  If lucky to have trouble-free tenures, then it’s more like “lucky you”.  If there were challenges, then accept them as tests of your own ability and be proud to have been at the helm when your people needed someone to “steady the ship”.

The continent currently has too many leaders struggling to even observe the pace of their counterparts from other places let alone keep up with them. Gatherings of Africa’s leaders have a mumbling nonagenarian, quite a few struggling octogenarians and septuagenarians, and a collection of sexagenarians doing unconvincing acts of alertness. However, suggest the simple act of making way for someone else and their band of helpers with more than an eye on their privileges will make very loud noises about their capabilities. Well, for me, it is not just a matter of capabilities and it will never be personal. It is about sustainability and the need for the basics of stability and security which have eluded the continent mainly because the conditions for their thriving have not been properly and laid out.

In this February of a leap year, the need for more time can be put into context.

We grant an extra day to this month in order to enable a critical synchronisation between time and the planets orbit around the sun. We need that to happen.

We grant extra time at the end of a football final because we need to have one team named as holder of a title for the next year or four. I get that.

We don’t need more time for a leader simply because there were challenges during his tenure.  Leaders are not elected to have a good time. They are elected to steer organisations and nations through tough times as well as good times.  A football manager doesn’t get more time to win the championship because his star player broke a leg mid-season. I think I can leave you to work out where I am going with that one.