Celebrating a Woman Who Said “Yes”

The Thankless Job of Public Sector Leadership

Every day we hear stories about poor leadership in the public sector in Africa. Examples abound of corruption, ineptitude and incompetence. And yet if we asked many brilliant Africans of integrity whether they would accept a public office if offered, many would say NO.  Why?  Because often what you will face if you took the position and tried to work with integrity is endless politics as people jostle for power, staff who make it their full time job to undermine you when you try to hold them accountable, character assassination by the vested interests you come up against  and daily criticism from a public who is supplied with unsubstantiated rumours from tabloids.  If you are woman – you can expect double the wahala.  What you will get, is very little thanks.

And yet knowing full well what she would face, one woman said yes when the call came in 2015. That woman is Judy Obitre-Gama the outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA). I would like to thank Judy for saying Yes to this thankless job when the call came.  But equally important I would like to thank Ms. Obitre-Gama for the leadership she provided NIRA in the last five years.

While many have criticised Ms. Obitre-Gama for a multitude of shortcomings within NIRA, the reality is National Identification Authorities are some of the most difficult institutions to run on this continent.  Despite these challenges, we celebrate what she was able to achieve.  For example Ms. Obitre-Gama established the NIRA Secretariat Kampala, in 117 district service areas and enabled the provision of registration services in 3 missions (London, Washington DC and Pretoria) to serve Ugandans in the diaspora better.

Ultimately, Ms. Obitre-Gama has taught us a lot about the leadership that this continent needs.   For one, she has taught us that Leadership is about saying yes when the call comes to serve.  While the right people are saying no to public service leadership, wrong people are saying yes for the wrong reasons.  More of us, particularly women, need to learn from Ms. Obitre-Gama and say yes to the call to serve.

Leadership is an inner game.  Many of us who know Ms. Obitre-Gama have watched with awe as she has stayed centred and focused on delivering results with integrity in the face of great opposition.  She has taught us that leaders need large doses of faith and an ability to manage their emotions to cope with the resistance and opposition when you seek to lead with integrity.

Leadership is about courage.  Ms. Obitre-Gama has never been afraid to speak her mind for what she believes is right.  We have seen too many leaders silenced for fear of losing their jobs.  Judy has demonstrated how critical it is to be brave if you are to lead with ethics.

Leadership credibility is not built overnight.  Ms Obitre-Gama has a long track record of leading with integrity from the time she served as Board Secretary of Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) and Head of Legal & Surveillance and Company Secretary at the Uganda Securities Exchange.  Her track record speaks for itself. Attempts to mar her reputation cannot undo this track record.  This should hearten those of us who fear to follow Judy’s footsteps by remembering that your actions will ultimately speak for themselves. Leadership is not a popularity game.  Leadership is about delivering results with integrity.

So as Ms. Obitre-Gama steps off the podium of NIRA, she should know that there are many of us who thank her.  We thank her for saying yes when the call came. We thank her for being an exemplary role model of women’s leadership.  And we thank her for showing us the possibilities of leadership in Africa.

Thank you, Ms. Obitre-Gama!