The Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), says the lesson African leaders must learn from the turmoil in Tunisia is to stop listening to bootlickers around them who praise-sing and say all is well with the general populace. Professor Gyimah Boadi says the happenings in Tunisia were a clear indication that the government had not sufficiently dealt with the needs of the populace. Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Professor Boadi said, “The principal question is, 'Did the government of [Zine al-Abidine] Ben Ali have in place a system that is able to ascertain the needs of the people? Were they aware? Were the systems they were running such that they felt needs of the people will be communicated to them or they were surrounded by bootlickers who kept telling the government that everything was ok, that popular wishes were being met and perhaps called those who dared to talk otherwise and to think otherwise, all sorts of names?” The CDD boss said African democracies must re-examine their communication systems and determine whether popular needs are “communicated to them without the distortions, interferences that parties have always imposed on these systems of communication.” “If you are a government, and a democratic government and you do desire to stay in power, keep your party in power, my suggestion to you is that, you must by all means, have in place, systems of uncontaminated communication of popular needs being passed on to you,” he said, explaining, “if you set a scheme where you are surrounded by bootlickers and sycophants who interfere with the transmission of information from the grassroots… well, then you are doing yourself no good.” He said autocratic governments who are doing well on the economic front must still have feedback mechanisms in place for knowing and doing something about conditions on the ground. Governments, Prof. Boadi said, must not “assume that because certain policy pronouncements have been made or perhaps because certain policy plans have been put in place, they are working. The business of government is to find a means to check whether what is put in place is indeed working.” He said giving assurances that all is well and that things will improve is not enough. What is critical, he observed, is ensuring that mechanisms that are put in place - to verify whether the polices and systems are working – are technically proficient, credible, and “that you are not lying to yourself or being lied to.” While demonstrating responsiveness to popular needs, governments, according to Prof. Boadi, have a responsibility not to pander. “Being a leader assumes that as a leader, you know and you have an idea of what is good for your people and that even if there is a popular demand, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is right, it doesn’t mean it is the most responsible thing to do,” he added. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana