Prize established by Sudanese telecoms tycoon Mo Ibrahim to improve governance on the continent
LONDON (TrustLaw) - For the third time in six years, no winner was announced for the $5-million Mo Ibrahim award for excellence in African leadership.
The prize, established by Sudanese telecoms tycoon Mo Ibrahim to improve governance on the continent, was previously awarded to former Cape Verde president Pedro Verona Pires, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and Botswana's Festus Mogae.
However, this year, although there were a number of candidates in the running, none met the criteria needed to win the prize, organisers said.
Ibrahim defended the decision against criticism that the lack of a winner sent a message of hopelessness about African governments, saying the prize would lose credibility if awarded to an undeserving leader.
"If we said we're going to have a prize for exceptional leadership we have to stick to that. We are not going to compromise because that would discredit the whole prize because it becomes a pension, it does not become a prize for excellence," he told a press conference in London.
Candidates for the prize have to be former heads of state who were democratically elected and left office in the last three years, serving only their constitutionally mandated term and displaying exceptional leadership.
One leader who left office recently is Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade, who bowed out in March after 12 years in power. Although he won praise for cementing Senegal's reputation as West Africa's most stable democracy, opposition activists said Wade's quest for a third term was unconstitutional.
LEADERSHIP DEFICIT
Ibrahim also dismissed suggestions that the remit of the prize be widened to include a greater pool of people such as government ministers or opposition leaders.
"We did not corner the market on prizes," he said to laughter from the audience. "People are welcome to establish prizes for the best African footballer, for the best African parliamentarian, for the best African finance minister. We are not the only organisation ... in the field."
"We have chosen to do this because we think with the power given to the head of the executive - really that's where major decisions lie. Who has the absolute power in the end? Is it the finance minister or is it the president?" Ibrahim added.
Former president of Botswana Mogae, who was also at the press conference, warned of the danger of prematurely rewarding opposition leaders, saying that the values of opposition figures have in the past become corrupted once they come to power. "I'm addressing fellow Africans - know that most of our leaders performed very, very well in the first 10 to 15 years, then something happened," he said.
Acknowledging that there was a "deficit" in exceptional leaders, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian Nobel Peace Prize laureate and member of the Ibrahim Foundation's prize committee, said the message to the public was to "double your efforts as citizens to make sure you have good governance".
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation also released its annual index on governance in Africa, based on 88 indicators relating to safety and rule of law, human development, sustainable economic opportunity, and participation and human rights (political participation).
The five best-ranked countries were Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana, Seychelles and South Africa. The worst-ranked country was Somalia followed by Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Eritrea and Central African Republic.
Africa's four main powerhouses, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, did not show convincing progress over the past year, Ibrahim said.
"That is concerning because we look to these powerhouses to pull Africa forward," he added.
Nigeria for the first time slipped into the bottom 10 performers in the index, mainly because other African countries have improved their rankings, Ibrahim said.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
