After the death of Moses the servant of the
LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of
Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them,
to the people of Israel. Every place that that the sole of your foot will tread
upon I have given to you, just as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and
this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of
the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your
territory.” Joshua 1:1-3.
Rex Chikoko of “The Nation” newspaper reports that
delegates at the ongoing Public Affairs Committee (PAC) 5th
All-Inclusive Stakeholders Conference have reached the consensus that “Malawi
has stagnated politically, economically, and socially because the country lacks
vision” (“Frank Talk at PAC Meeting: Indaba Calls for Change”, The Nation, Vol.
23 No. 35, Thursday 18 February, 2016). But I beg to differ. It’s the “big-man”
political system – where power is concentrated in one individual (the
president) who dominates the state apparatus, is seemingly above the law, buys
support through patronage (read: dishing out government positions and contracts
to party loyalists), and national economic development is subordinated to the
need to retain power – which is our big problem (so say Diana Cammack, Fred
Golloba-Mutebi, Fidelis Kanyongolo, and Tam O’Neil, Working Paper 2: Neopatrimonial Politics, Decentralization
and Local Government: Uganda and Malawi in 2006, Good Governance, Aid
Modalities and Poverty Reduction Working Paper Series, London: Overseas
Development Institute (December 2007), p. 4). So you can have your Vision
2020s, your Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) I & II, or even your
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), nothing is going to change in another 52
years until that “big man” system goes.
Joshua exemplifies a different kind of leader. One who has
been mentored to take over from his predecessor and to exercise his leadership
for the benefit of his people. Joshua is called Moses’s assistant and, as we
saw yesterday, served his boss well. He was mentored by Moses who most
definitely did not have issues with political self-preservation. Have you
noticed how the vice-presidency is a volatile position in Malawi? Every sitting
president has had issues with his vice-president in the multi-party era though
the jury is out on the present one. During the one-party MCP dictatorship,
there was no vice-president to the point that others insinuating that you were
one, would land you in the same trouble as the late Aleke Banda. Point is, “big
man” leadership does not groom successors and, unfortunately, as some wise
person has said, there is no success without a successor. So Joshua is indeed
standing on the shoulders of the giant Moses because he has been mentored right
by the best.
Joshua is not promoted for his own sake. Actually, there is
a grander plan at play here. God had promised Abraham, that man of faith who
believed he could have a son in his old age just because God said so, that he
would give to Abraham land, descendants, and make him a blessing to the nations
(Genesis 12:1-3). So Joshua’s promotion to leadership is not just to soothe his
ego or flex his leadership muscles. It’s about God’s plan to bring His promises
to pass to Abraham’s descendants and, ultimately, to the whole of humankind as
he would use Abraham’s descendants to bring forth Jesus Christ who would save
everyone who truly believes in Him from an eternity in hell. So Joshua is
mandated to bring the children of Israel into the destiny that God had for them,
the Promised Land. And that is the mission of every good leader, to use the
resources at his/her disposal to bring people into their God-ordained destiny.
Leader, may you mentor the next generation! May you
remember that success without a successor is doomed to failure! May you
actively identify and engage the next generation of leaders in your sphere of
influence! May you remember it’s not about you and your gifts, no matter how
brilliant you are! May you remember that leadership is not the means to your
enrichment at others’ expense! May you remember that you are merely God’s
servant to bring the greater good to those around you! May you remember that
you have been promoted to promote others!
