Leopard knife Rulers of Nweh Country: Case Study of Traditional Governance in Africa

Paper Abstract

Present day leadership in Africa seems devoid of any consideration for traditional African values of power and governance. Past African traditional rulers were wont to philosophize, rationalize and ritualize the origin and essence of power and authority from a people centered perspective. This is gone to large extent today in the socalled modern African rulership.The study of leopard ‑ knife rulers of Nweh country examines one of the indigenous concepts of power and authority in Africa and shows how the traditional method of apparent centralization and effective dispensation of power in a hierarchical  governance system was people centered. What emerges from this study is that African traditional governance was in practice people centered and quite often decentralised. The study also shows that indigenous rulership values have influenced the conceptualization power and governance in contemporary Africa and is partly responsible for poor governance in the continent.