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DIASPORA
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African Leadership Prize Can't Find a Winner
(GIN) – After considering some “credible candidates,” including former presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, John Kufuor of Ghana, and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the selection committee for the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership decided not to choose a winner.
The prize is awarded only to democratically elected heads of state who have left office voluntarily in the past three years. Created by Sudan-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, the prize awards $5 million over 10 years and $200,000 annually for life thereafter to encourage leadership that improves the prospects of people in the continent.
“It is like the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Obama,'' said Siphamandla Zondi, head of the Africa program at the Institute for Global Dialogue in South Africa. ''It is not necessarily about accomplishments but to encourage positive tendencies.''
Reed Brody, a Brussels-based legal counselor for Human Rights Watch recalled this year’s series of coups from Madagascar to Mauritania and Guinea. ''It hasn't been a great year for democracy in Africa. Maybe that's what they were trying to say.''
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