I would rate four basic qualities of leadership and they are namely being proactive, progressive, principled and participatory.

One, proactive. A politician must be proactive and not reactive. He must anticipate events and act before something happens. He cannot simply respond to events whenever they occur.

If so, he is no better a firefighter who puts out the fire when there is fire! If he is not careful, he may be engulfed and be burnt by the fire.

Two, a politician must be progressive, not regressive. He must move forward and be forward- looking; not move backwards and back-pedal into the Dark Ages.

In other words, he must keep pace with modern times and must know what is happening around him and be ahead of others. He must not be an ostrich with his head buried in the sand. of time. He must look ahead.

Three, a politician must be principled. He must play by the rules of the game. Once the rules are set, then he must abide by them even though situations may change to his disadvantage.

Of course, everybody knows the rules and knows that there will be no changing of rules in mid-stream. He must not say: ‘Do what I say but do not do what I do’ No double standards. To him, king and pauper follow the same rules.

Four, a politician must be participatory. He must engage with his fellow members in discussions. He must accept different views and opinions. He must accept his rivals and must not marginalise them.

He must be fearless in facing his opponents and be prepared to argue with them as a true gentleman. He must accept ideas superior to his. He must acknowledge the fact that no one has a monopoly of brilliant ideas.

And if he disagrees with his party's policy, he should readily resign and go back to the voters for their judgement; He must not jump ship!

In short, a politician must be passionate about being proactive, progressive, principled and participatory.

If he cannot be, then he should ‘close shop’ and go and do something else that is more to his taste. Then, politics is not his cup of tea.