Centre of Inculturation » Leadership - Authority - Governance in the African Institutions Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

The 12th “School of Inculturation” took place between May 20th – 23rd, 2022, and the theme was: “Leadership – Authority – Governance in the African Institutions in Sub- Saharan Africa, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow’’.

It took place in Mariapolis Piero, Juja - Kenya, while participants from at least 15 other African countries followed online through Zoom. The coordination was done at the Inculturation Centre in Mariapolis Piero with 65 persons present from various Focolare Zones of Africa and some representatives from the Central Coordination Council of the Focolare Movement in Rome. Over 555 people participated online. Most of them met in groups in their local communities to follow the school's events. There were other people connected from France, Switzerland, and Italy. In all, there were 34 locations connected on Zoom.

An African proverb says, "From a three-stone hearth, nothing can fall". In this wise, the contents of the School of Inculturation follow three angles:

African Traditions
Scriptures (Old and New Testament) and Magisterium of the Catholic Church
Charism and Collective Spirituality of the Focolare Movement

Part I: The African Traditions

The social fabric

The participants went deeper into the social fabric, deliberating on some African cultures' structures, hierarchies and institutions. Prof. Martin Nkafu pointed out that social status in African cultures rests on tribes, clans, villages, and quarters. The top of each one is the head responsible for governing the structure. Tribes have kingdoms

with kings, queens, and notables at the service of their population. The Western system of governance introduced state, division, council, municipality, prefect, and governor. With these titles, the colonialists most probably intended to replace the original African institutions that were mostly charismatic. A king is not elected, and the tribes are not created on paper. The tribes are people and cultures. The villages are people and cultures.

The African people have an education system that has existed for time immemorial. There are values like those of Ubuntu that cannot be changed even by introducing a new system. Prof. Nkafu concludes that one cannot replace the orality that characterizes the African culture and its practical transmission by written cultures. Writing does not improve culture. However, the art of writing can transmit culture better to other people not of that culture but does not create cultures.

The character traits and qualities necessary for a leader to carry out his duties

Boman Musa Moses, from the Kagoro Chiefdom of the Local Government Area of Kaduna State in Nigeria, points out that they do not need to choose Chiefs in African cultures based on Western educational standards. The selection is rooted in traditional values and charisma, and one chosen should be able to manage and withstand challenging situations and defend their people. A chief must also be a man of integrity, hospitable and accommodating because he is a father to all. He does not get angry in public functions; he accepts everyone and every responsibility to enhance life in his kingdom.

In most African cultures, a Chief has collaborators and advisors who help him in decision-making to execute his duties effectively. In some cultures, he has the discretion to choose his cabinet and give them responsibilities. Other neighbouring Chiefs also play a vital role, especially that of consultation.

In some cultures, in the case of bad governance, the ruling class has a collective power to dethrone the Chief and replace him with another person, or one of the cabinet members can act until the issue is resolved. If the Chief commits a terrible offence against the people and the traditions, he does not go free. The Chief is summoned, judged, and sanctioned accordingly. Dethronement, ex-communication, or even capital punishment are not excluded from the sanctions enlisted by the traditional code.

Maintaining an identity based on tradition in today's world

Although, due to colonization, Western laws and codes are in place in today's Africa, it is still possible to maintain an identity based on Afro-centric traditions. In Cameroon, for example, Fr. Joseph Ateh explained that Fondoms and Chiefdoms function very effectively. The Kom Fondom as a people has an administrative structure and builds institutions around community relationships. All things are related and interconnected. Nature forms an integral whole in these relationships. The Fon is the symbol of authority, and he governs in a symphony with various institutions, which are political, social, religious, juridical, medical, spiritual, moral, etc. These are the platforms of governance. The authority in the Kom tradition is communitarian and, at

the same time, distributive. Each institution or person has the role and level at which to exercise it for governance to be effective and achieve life's essential goals. Hence, a clear and well-designed structure enables the whole system to practically realize the standards embedded in the "Three Kom Hands’’ (child, food, and prosperity) for a healthy, populous, and flourishing community.

Facilitator (Fr Joseph Ateh) presenting a talk on the 12th School of Inculturation

Part II: Scriptures(Old and New Testaments) and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church

The participants of the School of Inculturation had a chance to deepen their knowledge of leadership from the scriptural point of view and the Catholic Church's teachings with Prof. Maria Magnolfi's help. She underlined three aspects as follows:

The leader – one mandated by God

In the tradition of the Bible, beginning with the Prophets and Kings (Moses, Samuel, Saul, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.), God appoints the leader of His people, and this leader must carry out his mission from this perspective. All power comes from God, no matter how he is chosen. There is always a divine intervention linked with the wisdom of God, who governs everything. The mission of such a leader is to see the proper functioning of the community. He carries out a service of charity that flows from the first commandment of the Decalogue. He is accountable to God, who has chosen and established him as a leader.

The leader - one who Co-operate with God

A leader becomes like a 'co-operator of God', from whom he receives the mission. Moses is a telling example. He is always in contact with God and knows how to ask for advice at every moment. It can rightly be said that Moses carries out his mission in dialogue with God from the moment of his calling until it is completed (Ex 3,11; 4, 1; 17,4f, etc.). Even in difficult times, he turns to God to answer the problem. A good leader lives by this conviction that responsibility is beyond human abilities.

The Leader - as Prophet and Intercessor

Even if the leader lives a certain distance from the community he is in charge of, he identifies with it and shares its joys and sorrows because he also belongs to that community. Like Moses, who brings the people's woes to God, who is the guarantor of life and salvation (Ex 17,1ff; Num 20,1ff), the leader lives for the community in his charge. Therefore, on the one hand, he shares his fate with the community, and on the other, he acts as an intercessor for the good of all.

The novelty of governance is revealed in the New Testament.

With the help of Prof. Maria Magnolfi, and Maria Goretti Nkenguburundi, the participants of the School of Inculturation re-discovered the experience of Jesus in leadership, who opened up a new horizon full of hope. Revealing his relationship with the Father, Jesus indicates that authority, authoritativeness, and credibility arise from unity, not as the exercise of the power of a leader, but as the expression of a shared reality, of a joint will.

By revealing himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus paints an unforgettable picture of the one in leadership. By showing himself as the one who serves, he elevates the mutual relationship to more incredible dignity. All the virtues are included: perseverance, collaboration, a sense of equality, exchange of talents and professionalism, concrete help, and attention to meet needs. It is not to be a slave of mammon but to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

They conclude by saying that opening up to the Trinitarian mystery is more than ever necessary for an inspired vision of today and of the future and is helpful for dialogue in our multi-ethnic and multi-religious cultures, where humanity is searching for ways to overcome the limits of opposition, rigid balances of majority/minority and all kinds of polarization. All this helps motivate us to discover where authentic leadership comes from, which contains authority, balance, and reliable governance.

Part III: Thoughts on Authority in the Focolare Spirituality of Unity

Maria Goretti Nkengunburundi points out that Chiara Lubich, the foundress of the Focolare Movement and President until she departed for Heaven, daughter of the Church, and initiator of the School of Inculturation, exercised her authority as a mother. Speaking of the concept of "authority" in the Focolare Movement to the participants in the initial meeting of the Movement for Unity in Politics on June 9, 2000, Chiara said:

"For us, authority is a participation in the love of the Creator for each of his creatures, in the love of a Father for all people, even the weakest and most insignificant, who, however, have within themselves the inviolable dignity of being children of God."

In this light, one can conclude that the authority of a person comes from God, and while Chiara Lubich remembers that "power confers strength," she affirms that "it is love that gives a person authority."

On various occasions, Chiara Lubich spoke about the art of loving. Knowing how to love our neighbours as they want to be loved can be challenging. The invitation to love goes to everyone. Those in authority and those under control are to love. According to the Spirituality of Unity, true love does not distinguish between people and has as its model the love of God, who sends the rain, and the sun to the good and the bad. Therefore, people in authority should be able to love everyone. In addition, Chiara adds that this Christian love, a law for every believer of any faith, demands: "to be the first to love; it asks us to become one with the others, to welcome them by creating a void within us, setting aside our worries, our thoughts." A Christian leader should not only love those who agree with what he proposes but even more, he is asked by Jesus to love his enemies and pray for those who persecute him. Therefore, in a peaceful community where love truly reigns, the various players should love each other, their love should be mutual, and each could love the other as himself.

Conclusion

Many participants expressed great appreciation for the reflections on the reality of "Leadership – Authority – Governance in the African Institutions Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow". Some expressed the view that this has opened them up to appreciate their cultures even more. It has allowed them to self-examine the type of leadership, authority, and governance that they exercise in their areas of work, families and communities. As a community, it gave them the resources necessary for cultivating a more responsible and Christ-centred Afro-centric approach to leadership today, given tomorrow’s society.

Fr. Joseph Mbzinu Ateh