Youth: Leaders of Tomorrow! Why South Sudanese referred to Youth as Leaders of tomorrow? (Part 1)
By David Matiop Gai, Juba, South Sudan
February 4, 2017, (SSB) – The youths’ future in South Sudan. Why youth leadership referred to young people as leaders of tomorrow? What is the future of youths in a devastated state of South Sudan? Are youths ruin in decades of war and conflicts as effects and impacts concern or there is a hope for youths?
Historically, traditionally, and culturally, for many centuries, youths are defined as leaders of tomorrow in South Sudan as well as in Africa. Leaders of tomorrow! Youths! Is it logic? Is it necessary? Is it visionary? It is planned? Is it cultural? It is a respect? Is it a system? Or this is an oppression of youths in African societies? Please look at systematic blockage mechanism.
The concept was originated from the traditional ideologies of garden concept, whereby a garden produces new seeds in a year for the next season from the seeds of past season or harvests. But what failed to do is to prepare these young leaders for tomorrow, otherwise why do we call somebody whom you did not prepare to be a leader of tomorrow even without couching him, training, knowledge, skills, plans, objectives, aims, and mission about tomorrow?
Again, the idea as originated from the traditional concept of the family continuation. In African families, transition of powers from elders to youths is a peaceful transfer whereby elders gained confident in youths and they referred leadership to youths. The concept also rooted from traditional routine because in African families, a family whose parents bear no children disappeared from the community and its existence. Therefore, a leadership where youths are referred to as leaders of tomorrow without proper preparation always end up in darkness leadership, and confusions.
What is a leader? Who influence a leader? Who are youths and what distinguish youths from elders of first class, middle class, and lower class according to cultural stratifications? In answering to the above questions, it is something practical because majority of human leaders or leadership are manmade leaders. Some leaders are naturally born, but more than that, and what we aspects as people, majority are manmade leaders into the position of leadership.
A leader is a person who influences others to follow him/her. And Leadership is a position to lead people. Therefore, leadership is an ability to influence others, and the leadership itself is determining by ability of a person who lead to effectiveness. In leadership whereby a leader influences people to follow him/her is very crucial, and every leader has some traits characteristics:
- A leader knows where he/she is going; and is a good leader.
- A leader influence or persuade others to follow him or her; and look back on others move.
- A leader live with examples, and leave behind him/her legacy of inspirations for others;
- A leader sees beyond everybody, and becomes a tough thinker, and ability to see the big picture.
- A leader is restlessness.
- A leader is holding on accountability and transparency.
- A leader is a good communicator,
- A leader is positivity, generosity, persistence, and insightfulness.
- A leader is possess leadership philosophies of empowerment, reasonableness, and decisiveness
- A leader is an open-mindedness, authenticity, innovation, passion, and inspiration.
- A leader is honest, delegate, approach, authoritative, and intuition.
My complaint is only one thing. If we set up to produce youth leaders for true and genuine leadership, we must gear toward a successful ability to see with big picture across our youths in South Sudan in order to minimize wrong accompany of those who spoiled the gold of their leadership and involved youths to vanish as they did South Sudan in leadership.
The successful characteristics of youth’s leadership cannot be ignored. Most of the worse things today in leadership is what a person in power do, because they defected young leaders, for instance, youths in South Sudan tosses up and down like trees vented into wind direction of gloom poor politics, and they run after misleading politics that are not building up youths into national and international politics with clear future of leadership as defined by encases of tomorrow blessings.
You are judgemental spirited – human being as long as you are living. The future of youths leadership in South Sudan is not being a graduated youth from the university of Nairobi, Juba, Harvard university, King college in U.K, Khartoum university, or Makerere university, talk of top best universities around the world; it is not enough to a graduate in order to be a leader! And that is the terrible concept many South Sudanese have in mind.
Yes, you must be a graduate but you need to be search, define, identity, develop, build, and nurtured with knowledge, talent, and skills through qualities of authority, and responsibility of selecting team work , and qualities team work to become a best leader of tomorrow as African people meaning is concern. Read identifying youth leaders in part two.
The author is a co-founder of South Sudan Mental Health care Organization, (SSMHCO). He holds Bachelor degree in Social Work and Social Administration from SSCUST, Bachelor of Theology from CLT, Bungoma, Kenya/Kalispell, USA, and a fellow researcher. He can be reach at david.matiopgai@gmail.com
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