Boy, after you lose, no one will remember you/May be, but when you lose, no one will let you forget*

Boy, after you lose, no one will remember you/May be, but when you lose, no one will let you forget*

S

adly, the best leaders are the ones who never were. They are the presidents that never got elected, the managers who never got appointed and the drivers who never occupied the steering seat.

BY MUSYOKA NGUI

When Nigerian writer and 1986 Nobel Laureate for Literature Prof. Wole Soyinka was asked by Talk to Al Jazeera host Folly Bah Thibault, what influence or the enduring legacy he would want to leave behind he said: “Oh, simply the recollection of the fact that I passed through.”Soyinka seems sure that he will leave indelible footprints in the sands of time. He claimed that definitely there will emerge other better writers from the African continent but was not sure whether they would advance the ideology of concerned humanist that he is. He dismissed them (young writers) as lazy and insincere.

Soyinka’s worries cannot be wished away by those who care about the future of their lives and what will become of their destinies if someone else took over the reins of power. Will they be promising or they will just collapse into a heap of despair after years of hard work and dedication?

I have been poring through literature and looking at the question of legacy in the face of leadership and how that shapes how the memories the prominent people linger around in the minds of their subjects. I am sorry that some of our actions will not outlive us. Writers like Soyinka have the privilege that their works will immortalize them forever.

NOT MERE MORTALS

So what makes people remember Tom Mboya, JM Kariuki, Pio Gama Pinto, Malcom X, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King? They were not mere mortals. They are eternal heroes and heroines who secured a permanent place in the annals of history.

Some leaders in history will be forgotten as soon as the mourners leave their funeral requiem masses. Before the cement on their graves dry and long before grass grow around their burial site.

BAD EXAMPLE

To be remembered by humankind you must do something exceptional. Be their hero. Deliver them from the jaws of disasters- human, artificial or natural. Be dependable, reliable and indispensible. It’s about excellence. Take the call of duty to serve passionately and make a difference in the lives of your people. But if you are mediocre and average no one will remember your input. You will be forgotten actively like a bad dream. Children will be raised by being warned by parents that they should not be like you. You embody a bad example not worth emulating. Generations will be reminded how not to be like a tyrant, a dictator and a ruler that ran down a once promising economy by stashing public funds in foreign accounts and appointing cronies and relatives in strategic posts to continue the dark tunnel vision of looting, predation and anarchy.

Role models will be cherished. They are honest and sincere. They talk truth to power and offer constructive criticism. They are the alternative thought when the authorities are stuck in obsolete methods which do not work. They should be listened to when they speak because they ooze intelligence, wisdom and rare knowledge that they wilfully offer for free for the sake of humanity. What more service can the society want from them?

GOOD RIDDANCE

Sadly, the best leaders are the ones who never were. They are the presidents that never got elected, the managers who never got appointed and the drivers who never occupied the steering seat. People are left wondering and imagining how the world would be advanced if such fellows were given the opportunity to serve. But I say good riddance for ignoring a prophet at home. The problems you go through will forever remind you that it is because you rejected the concerned humanists and kissed the tyrant because he was moneyed or was born into wealth but lacked both the will and ability to lead you.

Concerned critics end up being unpopular with the ruling elite. They vie for elections and fail, they apply for jobs and get rejected and pay the ultimate price of their unshakable stands against wrongdoings in the society. They are murdered or mysteriously disappear and their fate basically is shrouded in intricate controversy and mystery so much so that we will never know what actually caused their death.

*The title of this piece was adopted from the animation movie “Monster University”.

Musyoka Ngui is a final year Communication and Media student at Chuka University and a technology blogger with culturemob.com.