African leaders got involved in politics due to different motivations. Most of them sought to transform their societal thinking and practices through channels such as religion, culture and socio-economical influence. African culture held a vital identity, which necessitated its protection from being wiped out by the foreign cultures. In essence, political ideologies were formed as an opposition to the degrading African norms and values.
Most colonialists employed the divide and rule policy, which compromised the natives’ identities because the foreigners’ values had dominated the indigenous values. People aggrieved by the foreigners’ influence on the cultural values resorted to resistance since they had political movements. New political entrants sought to protect their traditional values from being overtaken by Islam and Christianity. They tried to protect their languages, dialects, names and other forms of ethnic reservations from being eroded.
Religion also contributed significantly to the creation of political leadership. In some regions, Africans assimilated foreign religion such as Islam and Christianity. In this view, the religious view on political leadership was taken up. Religions such as Islam and Christianity justified the correlation between politics and religion. As a result, it saw the creation of the notion that political leadership was a vital component of religion despite the existing resistance.
The Education received by Africans served as another avenue to venture into politics. The societal elites saw the need to defend the rights of the locals, and thus, they wanted to free themselves from the colonial oppression.
Although the intellectuals had been used earlier as instruments of foreign rule, they later changed their activities and became activists for the locals’ rights. In most cases, socio-economical issues brought by the colonial rule served as the major basis to join politics, and for that reason, the formation of a political resistance against the foreigners.
Social injustices such as forced labor and corruption influenced the formation of political unions to challenge the foreign administration. These unions had to be led by people who were capable of amassing several followers and impart ideas that they envisioned in their transformational revolutions. The ability to convince the natives and inspire them towards action led to the creation of the union leaders, and thus, the formation of political affiliations.
Instruments of the colonial administration such as military officers and administrators ventured a transactional type of political leadership. As the locals formed their resistances towards the colonial rule, they avoided the revolutions in order to gain political mileage within the colonial administration.
Some of these leaders received privileges within the colonial regime since they were used to suppress the natives. This is attributed to the support they received from their masters. However, the mentality of people sticking to colonial leaders began to fade gradually as the dream of independence became real.
African politicians viewed politics as an avenue for change. They sought the leadership positions in order to stop retrogression in the society. They viewed the freedom from colonial administration as a path towards social and economic growth.
In most scenarios, the eradication of societal evils such as corruption, forced labor among others, could be achieved through education and responsible leadership. These leaders believed their positions could be earned by protecting the African identity in the form of cultural values, beliefs and languages. In addition, most political leaders viewed their ability to influence and respond to societal issues as the chief leadership skill.