More specifically, Faye’s election is being heralded as the new hope for the youth frustrated by a lack of economic opportunities, with the older generation seemingly clinging to power while doing nothing for them. It’s a story that can be told in any country, especially in all of Africa: youth languishing in miserable lives worse than their parents ever experienced.
What happened in Senegal to have this young man Faye elected, and can that be replicated in other countries in Africa?
It is a simple question, but the answer is more complex and may take more time and space than available to answer it. What can be said, however, is that even as Senegal and, indeed, the rest of the world are excited or bemused by the election of Faye, it is necessary to take stock of a single phenomenon that may help answer the question and that is, age is nothing but a number.
While it is axiomatic that with age comes wisdom, it is fair to say or conclude that once someone well-raised and educated has passed the age of 20—or 25, depending on their individual maturity rate, he or she is quite capable of making positively impactful decisions when equipped with the information they must process to make the decision.
The converse is also true; an inexperienced or slow-to-learn young person of that age, when thrust into situations they’re unfamiliar with or don’t understand, can just as easily sink the ship as an older person equally unfamiliar or incapable of making the right decisions.
In other words, age alone is not a good indicator of how well one in a leadership position can perform. A youthful president like Faye can deliver or fail to deliver just as an octogenarian can.
Whether youthful or old, what matters is a leader’s vision for the country they lead and, even more importantly, whether that vision aligns with what must be done to fix the myriad of any country’s problems.
But then, that’s only half of the equation; the other half is the leader’s willingness to execute what is necessary to solve the problems—and this is where all leaders in Africa miserably fail.
Once elected or have somehow found themselves sitting in the highest political office of the land, nearly all of these presidents immediately start repaying political debts at the expense of hoi polloi they promised to deliver manna from heaven.
By the time they stop repaying those political debts, it is time to scheme their reelection, so they have no time for anything else. It is as if being in the high office is an end by itself.
It is a script we have seen written, acted and written again and again to no end.
On this count, Faye may be a breakthrough of some kind as it does not appear he has political monkeys on his shoulder to offload before embarking on delivering what he has promised: to lift up his country.
Senegal had what we had in Kenya in 2002; that is, an overwhelming majority of the country saying enough is enough we must have change. Not even the fabled “system” could do anything about that, but, as I have repeatedly said, if Uhuru had faced off with someone other than Kibaki, we would have had Uhuru as president in 2002.
But that’s neither here nor there, except to say if there is no similar united opposition and even half the hunger for change in 2027, say hello to President William Ruto’s second term.
That leads to another question one can pose occasioned by Senegal’s experience: are the youth in Kenya prepared to effect change in the country much as in Senegal, utilising constitutionally permitted means, and if so, who shall lead them?
One hopes for the former; the latter requires serious prayers.
