“One man no matter how bright does not a forest make” — Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
The metaphor of a bright tree versus a forest is a fitting one for a discussion on intergenerational leadership. In a virtual event convened on 30/05/2020 by the Centre for Democracy and Development West Africa in memory of Tajudeen Abdul Raheem (Taju) and Abubakar Mommoh, Taju as a connector was echoed by many. “Taju asked me to represent him in a meeting in Dakar, Kampala, Addis Ababa.” Through these anecdotes, many participants pointed to Taju as a consummate networker. This was not only a skill but also a deliberate objective for Taju.
When I first heard of “Taju”, I had taken up a job at an INGO in Nairobi and apparently he was the great Panafricanist to know. My arrogant twenty something year old self responded to my colleague’s demand of whether I knew Taju with — does he know me? When I eventually met the man, he was unassuming, generous with his time, knowledge and dare I say he could fry a mean plantain! Like many of those who extolled Taju’s networking skills, I too became a beneficiary and recognised the mutual respect in the relationship.
Taju’s requests to “represent him” at X meeting was not a mzee sending his junior on an errand. It was clear that representatives were in those meetings as intellectuals not Taju’s mouthpiece. This was quintessential Taju, handing over the baton to the next generation. Rather than occupying space as a sole voice, Taju created space for many trees to blossom. Taju was a sought after speaker and it would have been easy to give into the cult following. Yet, Taju chose not to because he understood that the task of Africa’s transformation will not be achieved by reproducing the big chief model that plagues our political and NGO circles.
Taju understood that in a context where deference to patriarchy and age is used to exclude women specifically and young women and men generally, he mobilised his social capital to counter it. In sending people to meetings in his stead, he was tacitly communicating that they were the important voices to listen to. It was also unspoken that in sending you into these spaces, you should use them to negotiate new relationships and expand your network.
We can complicate what it means to mentor the next generation or simplify it as Taju did. Walk through a door, leave it open or walk through it with others who do not enjoy the same level of social capital as you do because of gender, race, class and age. It is in sitting at the table or on the sidelines of events observing realpolitik that we expand our consciousness. It is in those spaces that we come to grips with why change is urgent, what it means to drive it and how we need to do it.
I am a beneficiary of the “opening doors” approach from Taju, ‘Funmi Olonisakin, Brian Kagoro, Sarah Mukasa and Eboe Hutchful to name a few. It is an approach I use in my circles. We all have the capacity to share space and expand networks. Don’t be the only chief in town. Don’t be the only feminist in your village. Like Taju, pass the torch, one kola nut at a time.