(Nairobi, Kenya)
Without having to necessarily impinge on any personal territory as far as leadership is concerned, especially because we would all like to reconcile our loyalties with their apparent zest and zeal to follow a progressive communal curve, we must, as well, be armed to the teeth with an ability to accept that in this day and age, we need visionaries and thinkers above all.
Communities have thrived the world over and over the years, we have secretly escalated from an insignificant lot scattered across the universe to a more synchronized community that is vigorously engaged in self-growth and perpetuates preservation of its entity. It is common knowledge, however, of how most Jamaats are run. Ad-hoc financing, lacklustre drives and donor-motivated projects, all of which while commensurate with the continuous motion needed to run the routine and short-term plans of the community, defeat the principal of an organisation.
We must vociferously concede that our organizations lack unilateral focus and are in fact anti-organization in spirit. In other words, when a new team comes into leadership, support by the membership is limited to those willing to commit their resources only. As a result, personal interests are not compulsorily harmful, but those predicating the “one-man shows” of our long history have prevailed. In any organization, the first rule is that there ought to be continuity. Continuity of planning, continuity of controlling and directing. And finally, the supervisory controls ensure that the plans are adequately followed and that the so-called “master plans” are not mere publicity propaganda earmarked for the registered office archives.
While pro-progress, THE COMMUNITY on FRIDAY believes in the sanctity of the constitution, the wholesome philosophy of an organization, and the discipline associated with discharging our various individual roles associated with such tasks. But we simultaneously find ourselves, term after term, that each jamaat fails to rise above the petty triviality of running their centres and manning their problems, to engage in any meaningful planning or vision implementation. And once the term ends, the succeeding team fails to inherit the problems as well as the successes. What does this mean to the ordinary voter? Simply put, when you elect a member, in as much as we desire the emergence of new ideas and reforms, we also must seek the absolute fulfilment of the organizational mission, rather than any personal unvented opinion.
To start this, and especially now that the World Federation has confidently placed their Vision Plan to the whole world (and that we believe is beginning to receive widespread acceptance), the local Jamaats, grassroots you may call them, must change the mode of leadership. Let us low censure of misdeeds, not to humiliate people, but to uphold the constitution of truth and justice. This should immediately replace the age-old song of unity because while immensely emphatic, unity is subject to abuse by unaccountable teams of leaders. Let us not shy away from questioning, and let us not deprive the non-wealthy persons to assume leadership roles. But because of the present-day defective organization structure, where the leader has to practically stop living his life (absence of management delegation), this is not bound to happen, is it? With a more positive approach to our systems, we will then be able to happily move forward and unite with cleaner hearts for one another. Organisation, not personalisation, is the key.
