RSS 2.0 FeedSeptember 2009 Vol 11, Featured Articles, Africa
Africa’s leaders snubbed by Ibrahim Prize
IN A snub to recent former presidents and heads of state in Africa, organisers of a multimillion-dollar annual prize for good governance said yesterday they would not hand out the award this year.
IN A snub to recent former presidents and heads of state in Africa, organisers of a multimillion-dollar annual prize for good governance said yesterday they would not hand out the award this year.
The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is only awarded to democratically elected heads of state who have left office in the past three years.
The committee considered “some credible candidates” but could not select a winner, said former Botswana president Ketumile Masire, a board member of the group that awards the prize.
Created in 2007 by Sudan-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, the prize awards 5m over 10 years and 200000 annually for life thereafter to encourage leadership that improves prospects for people on the continent. Ibrahim was asked at a news conference yesterday about politicians who meet the award criteria but were not chosen, including former president Thabo Mbeki , former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and former Ghanaian president John Kufuor.
Ibrahim, the founder of the telecoms company Celtel International, said the foundation had “full respect” for those leaders. It was unclear why the committee, which is independent of the foundation’s board, was unable to choose one . Committee members said they could not discuss their deliberations.
Masire said the foundation “noted the progress made with governance in some African countries, while noting with concern recent setbacks in other countries”.
The move surprised some experts, who said the award should be used as an encouragement to good governance.
“The way I see it is, it is like the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Obama,” said Siphamandla Zondi, head of the Africa programme at the Institute for Global Dialogue in SA. “It is not necessarily meant to make a definitive statement about accomplishments. It should be used to encourage positive tendencies.”
Trying to find the perfect recipient would mean the award would be rarely handed out, said Stephen Chan, professor of international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
“I would imagine that they are thinking about raising the bar and having raised the bar they have found that no one could get over the bar. No one expects African governance to be perfect at this time.”
Th e prize committee was chaired by former United Nations secretary- general Kofi Annan and included Nobel peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei and former Irish president Mary Robinson
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