IGAD to set up leadership academy in Nairobi
Wednesday April 06 2022
Workneh Gebeyehu, the executive secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). PHOTO | FILE
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is set to establish a leadership training institution in Nairobi “to mentor and train the next generation of regional leaders in order to improve peace and security.”
A dispatch from the eight-member bloc says the centre will help in instilling leadership qualities, including integrity and ability to manage crises.
The IGAD members are Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. However, Eritrea has been boycotting meetings.
The academy, to which Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has agreed to be patron, will draw students from each of the IGAD member states and other African countries which may sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the institution.
Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD executive secretary, said the institution will be necessary “to address issues affecting our region, many of which can directly be attributed to challenges in leadership.”
“The core function of the academy will be to establish and build a pool of visionary, strategic, and ethical leaders who uphold democracy and the rule of law,” Dr Workneh said in a statement.
“This will be done through rigorous training to bequeath the trainees with the critical skill sets necessary to address needs and challenges that are unique to the IGAD region.”
According to the plan, the institution will admit 25 students every academic semester, who will be trained on two programmes – leadership and integrity; and democracy, governance and human rights.
Dr Gebeyehu has written to Prof Ludeki Chweya, the Director General of the Kenya School of Government, the state’s training centre for public servants, requesting the institution to host the academy’s offices.
The Centre could be hosted at the Kenya School of Government, once adequate modalities and a hosting MoU is signed. Officials from both sides are set to meet on Friday in Nairobi to finalise the establishment, a dispatch said.
The Centre, officials said, could help deal with the prevailing crises in the region, among them food security, political instability and economic turmoil.