Over two hundred Sierra Leoneans over participated in the 2017 Global Leadership Summit (GLS) over the weekend. Participants from various walks of life, on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 November 2017, converged at the Ebenezer Circuit in Freetown to listen to international speakers teach on leadership through a video screen.
The GLS started over a decade ago in the United States of America with the mind set to build up church leaders. Sierra Leone joined the world to hold this summit eleven years ago.
The theme for the country’s leadership summit is, “Creating the Sierra Leone we want to see”. Thony Lake, a member of the Sierra Leone GLS steering committee, said GLS is a platform for training leaders for them to identify their God-given potential and relate well with their subordinates. He said though the training was born out of a Christian “womb”, it is open up to church leaders, non-governmental organisations, students, scholars, trader etc.
Lake said they chose their theme based on the fact that the country was approaching the 7 March 2018 general elections. He said we need to see the kind of people we had in mind to lead us for the next five years.
“Every human being should be a political being. We are not focusing on politics but from the teachings they receive and from the discussions and answers to their questions it help transform their mind set… if we can forget about tribal lines, nepotism and party colours and we think Sierra Leone…you will vote for a person who has a clean record, has the potential for delivery, has the country at heart that will take Sierra Leone from one level to another “, he said.
Judith Coker, a Chaplain from the Sierra Leone Police, is a first time participant the GLS. She said, “The first thing I heard at this summit was for leaders to be role models. Not hot tempered. I have learnt how to love others, give opportunity to others and be impartial. What I will take to my bosses is the message of being on God’s side, bringing others on board.”
Harrison Abu represents the Makeni Council of Church Ministers. He too is a first time participant. Some of the things Abu agreed with at the summit included, “the greatest value on the side of the leader are humility openness and respect.” Creativity is another point raised in the summit that Abu agreed with. He said people should be creative in their political messages rather than presenting similar message every year.
The summit will be hosted in Bo and Kenema districts in the next two weeks and will be moved to Makeni in early December.
ES/10/11/17
By Edna Smalle
Monday November 13, 2017.
ADVERTISEMENT