“chifu_wa_malindi” wrote:
Comments:
“What is surprising about it? The kleptomaniac African rulers can make many more million by continuing with their wicked corrupt ways and they have been quite untouchable for their crimes.”
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In the same way as Western leaders have, from George ‘God is on our Side’ Bush to Tony ‘There is a 45-minute Threat’ Blair? I’d have a lot more sympathy for your point if you actually contextualized it: Western nations are just as corrupt, just as autocratic, as anything you’ll see in ‘darkest’ Africa. The difference is one of perception and degree, and involves the media as much as it does effective governmental control of information.
Thus, while our governments are currently stealing money and propping up disfunctional financial services, failed PFI initiatives, and crooked politicians to the tune of billions of pounds, we are exposed to the never ending barrage of negative publicity from (and of) Africa, which implies and directly reaffirms the prejudice that African dictators are the more corrupt, more retrograde of modern leaders. They are not. They have never been. The most pernicious actors in this particular charade have always been those with the greatest concentrations of power, and to find those you have to look no further than London, Washington, Tokyo and Berlin (among other notable places).
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Contextualize? The context is quite simple: the prize is awarded for “good governance in Africa,” and “for achievement in African leadership.”
Had there been a prize for “good governance in a western nation” and the prize committee had found no western leader worthy of it this year, an anti-Western rant might have some relevance to the piece.
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Here is the full article
Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership will not be awarded this year
Billionaire businessman says committee considered a range of candidates – but could find no winner
Mo Ibrahim tells a press conference in London there will be no winner for the leadership prize this year. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images
A foundation set up to award a $5m (£3m) annual prize for good governance in Africa has said there will be no winner this year because it could not find anyone to award it to.
In a snub to recent ex-presidents and heads of state in Africa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation – set up by the billionaire businessman and philanthropist – said its prize committee considered some credible candidates, but could not select a winner.
“The prize committee is independent of the board,” Ibrahim said. “It is the prize committee’s decision not to award a prize this year and we entirely respect it. We made clear at the launch of the foundation that there may be years when there is no winner.”
The seven-member prize committee is chaired by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general. It includes Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and Nobel laureate, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel laureate, and Graça Machel, the former minister of education and culture in Mozambique.
Launched in 2006, the Mo Ibrahim foundation was designed to encourage good governance in Africa and to hand out the world’s largest annually awarded prize. The Ibrahim prize for achievement in African leadership is worth $5m over 10 years and $200,000 for life annually thereafter.
Past winners include Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, and Nelson Mandela, who was made an honorary laureate in recognition of his “extraordinary leadership qualities”.
A Sudanese-born former BT engineer, Ibrahim moved to Britain in 1974 and created and sold two highly successful companies ? including Celtel International ? earning himself a personal fortune and turning many people into millionaires in the process. The Forbes rich list puts his wealth at $2.5bn, and he appears regularly at the top of lists of influential black Britons.
Writing in today’s Guardian, Ibrahim defended himself against critics who suggested he was trying to “bribe leaders to do their jobs”. He said the critics “are failing to take into account how central governance and leadership are for Africa’s development” .
He also argued that the lifelong nature of the award provided African leaders with the option of continuing a life in public service as they do not ? unlike leaders in the west ? have the option of jumping on the gravy train after office.
In conjunction with the award, the foundation publishes an annual index on the quality of governance in every African country, designed to promote and stimulate debate around the world. Although no prize will be given out this year, the planned events in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next month will go ahead.
They will include a discussion forum on issues critical to Africa’s future, including climate change, agriculture and food security and regional economic integration.
“At a time when, we are seeing overall progress in Africa, despite worrying setbacks in some countries, it is vital that African stakeholders and institutions come together to look for a way forward on the major challenges facing the African continent,” Ibrahim said. “I look forward to the discussions around this urgent African agenda.”
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2009/oct/ 19/mo-ibrahim- african-leadersh ip-prize
TheotherWay’ s profile picture TheotherWay
19 Oct 09, 5:09pm (about 9 hours ago)
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From: “Patricia”
Date: 10/20/2009 03:06AM
Subject: Re: No African leader qualified for the Mo Ibrahim $5m award!!
Chifu,
This is a prime subject for Professor Ayittey! The Presidents of Botswana, Mozambique and Nelson Mandela are former winners, can anybody on this forum think of any leaders in Africa today who they think might qualify? When Mo Ibrahim first proposed this prize I thought there could be some contenders, nobody springs to mind! This is a sad fact for Africa`s people.
Pat.
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Mo Ibrahim, himself wrote this:
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Government may not directly provide these public goods and services, but government must be accountable for whether or not they are delivered to citizens. These issues are all quantifiable, measurable. And this is exactly what the Ibrahim Index of African Governance does. This month, in Cape Town, we launched the 2009 edition of the index. By taking a comprehensive look at the state of governance across the continent, we provided an in-depth view of government successes and failures. We found tangible ways to measure rights, participation, economics and social protection, particularly in relation to how these issues impact people’s lives. Information like this empowers people to demand more from their governments.
To be used effectively, this information has to be given to the people who need it most – citizens, civil society groups, business leaders and politicians. The foundation is committed to a programme of dissemination, which includes ads in newspapers, radio features and engagement with think tanks and universities across Africa.
Interestingly, through our efforts to place a newspaper advertisement in every country in Africa, we find a number of countries which refuse to publish our findings. This censorship, either imposed by the state or self-imposed, tells an important story in itself.
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First, how do Africans hold their governments and leaders accountable when they cannot throw them out of office because elections are stolen, since the electoral commissioner is not independent?
Second, what is the use compiling this Index, ostensibly to provide information to the masses when the media is not independent and is controlled by the state?
If I were Mo Ibrahim, I would pick one or two of the 6 institutions above, and use all my money and campaign for their establishment across Africa.
My choice would be obvious: the media. I am not rich yet but have already started Radio Free Africa – http://www.radiofre eafrica.org.
George Ayittey,
Washington, DC
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From: George Ayittey
Subject: Re: Re: No African leader qualified for the Mo Ibrahim $5m award!!
To: Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 12:52 PM
Pat,
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Mo Ibrahim. He made it big and he wants to give something back – try an improve the deplorable situation in Africa. I tip my hat off to him. There are many filthy rich Africans – more wealthier than Mo – who choose to hide overseas and enjoy their booty quietly. Same on them! I hope I don’t meet them in a dark alley.
Unfortunately, however, Mo Ibrahim’s approach toward improving governance is flawed. The paucity of good leaders is too glaring. AS I have often said, we have had about 208 African leaders since independence in the 1960s. One would be hard-pressed to find 10 good leaders. So if you are going to award a prize to a good African leader, you will very soon run out of eligible candidates. I predicted this about two years ago because that was exactly what happened to another award, called the Africa Prize for Leadership, given by the Hunger Project. See this link:
http://www.africapr ize.org/
Other people may find the very idea of awarding prizes to African leaders who step down from power peacefully repugnant. Aren’t they supposed to step down after their terms expire? So why reward them? Or why reward them when they have stolen billions?
Be that as it may, my complaint with Mo Ibrahim’s approach is his emphasis on LEADERSHIP. We have not shed this old shibboleth. As I have argued over and over again at this forum, the focus should be on INSTITUTIONS. Recall the statement president Obama made in hisspeech in Accra on July 11. “Africa doesn’t need strong leaders; it needs strong institutions.”
At this forum, I have identified 6 critical institutions:
1. An independent and free media – for free flow of information
2. An independent electoral commission — for free and fair elections
3. An independent judiciary – for the rule of law
4. An independent central bank – for monetary stability (Look at Zimbabwe’s currency)
5. An efficient civil service, and
6. A neutral and professional security and armed forces.
Give Africans these 6 institutions and they themselves will clean up the continent and establish the level of governance Mo Ibrahim hasn’t seen before. These institutions are not established by leavers but by civil society.
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