Civil Society leaders pledge to effect transformation

By Joel Besekezi

The Commonwealth People’s Forum set off on Monday 19th 2007 with a number of workshops taking place concurrently in different halls of Hotel Africana, the venue for the Forum. Among the workshops was Civil Society Leaders Effecting Transformation which brought together Civil Society Leaders from most of the Commonwealth member states.

Otunba ‘Dele Ajayi-Smith, President of African Citizens Development Foundation based in Nigeria was one of the panelists. He emphasized that one of the major reasons why Africa has so many bad leaders is the irresponsible citizens who later become irresponsible leaders. He amazed participants when he said that leaders need to stick to their agenda since a television set can’t abandon its antenna and move elsewhere.

Stephen Bubb, Chief Executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organizations (acevo) based in the United Kingdom said Leaders ought to effectively manage company resources, both human and money. He went on to stress also the importance of Networking for civil Society.

Disability is not inability; this was proved by a CEO who is visually impaired. He stated that one can be a good leader even when they are disabled. His appeal to all stake holders was that there is need to facilitate disabled leaders so as to make them as efficient as the rest.

The Principles of CEOs came as a brain teaser to many since most of what was aired by the participants was termed as goals or aims and not principles. However, after a general consensus, it was agreed that the principles include:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Transparency
• Time consciousness
• Accountability

The Civil Society Leaders pledged to do all it takes to effect transformation in the various Commonwealth member states. The media fraternity was called upon to work in close collaboration with Civil Society, since this would give the leaders a good platform for the achievement of their aims and objectives.