Metaphysical challenges of ethical leadership in Africa

Abstract

This paper situates the challenges of ethical leadership within the province of metaphysics. I argue that the challenges of ethical leadership in Africa are fundamentally metaphysical. There are at least three sources of metaphysical conflicts in Africa – the clan, the cults, and religion. Trapped between the values of the clan and the ideals of the modern state, African leaders have always had to grapple with competing definitions of reality, competing notions of sovereignty, confusing concepts of personal identity and the Supreme Being, confusion between public and private space, and so forth. These metaphysical conflicts cause what I refer to as schizophrenia in leadership leading to a compromise in healthy ethical behavior. The way out of this unhealthy ethical climate is a conscious effort by leaders to recreate the state and inculcate a new metaphysical worldview that transcends the cultic metaphysics of the clan. To achieve this, I suggest a holistic and global focus in leadership training, emphasis on social security, mass education, democratic governance and adherence to the rule of law.