Last week, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation announced the winner of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership — outgoing Namibian president Hifikepunye Pohamba.
The award is reserved for African presidents who espouse good leadership and governance during their tenure in office.
Many welcomed this and some even suggested that the award be expanded to include other categories to recognise different achievements.
I agree that different categories of the award would be useful to acknowledge and promote efforts to bring about real change in Africa. However, I disagree with the principle of recognising African leaders for "good leadership and governance". The Mo Ibrahim award is the world's most lucrative prize. It comes with a cash award of Sh450 million paid over 10 years and a lifetime payment of $200,000 a year.
The objective of the award is to recognise exemplary African leaders "who have developed their countries, lifted people out of poverty, and paved the way for sustainable and equitable prosperity." If the prevailing social and economic situation across the continent of Africa is any indicator, it would seem to me that none of the current or retired heads of state deserve to be nominated for any leadership prize anywhere in the world.
ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENT
Even though economic improvement is noticeable in some parts of Africa, it has not had enough impact to undo the widespread poverty, disease, and unemployment that plague the continent. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen at an alarming rate and millions of Africans still suffer from the extreme effects of poverty and preventable disease. Most African countries' infrastructure is in a deplorable condition.
Some of these problems can be alleviated by a leader who is committed to making a real change in the lives of his people. However, the reality is that most heads of states do not have the will or interest to do so.
From the oil fields of Nigeria to the fallow lands of Zimbabwe, Africa is the only continent on the face of the earth that is reeling from enormous man-made challenges that range from poverty, disease, unemployment, tribal clashes, displacement of democratic governments, disregard for democratic processes, broken electoral systems, and corruption, to impunity and inefficiency.
INSPIRING LEADER
In the current socio-political-economic situation, it is almost impossible to identify any inspiring African leader who is governed by respect for the rule of the law, initiates concrete plans to emancipate his people from economic deprivation, and strives to sincerely enhance his country's infrastructural development.
To award an African leader for imagined exemplary leadership, governance, and economic development for his people is a slap in the face of the millions of Africans who endure unimaginable suffering.
Instead of wasting millions on presidents who cannot even account for their wealth, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation should try investing this money in projects that would genuinely help the African people by promoting entrepreneurship to help fight poverty and disease. Awarding African leaders is an indirect endorsement of their gross incompetence and greed
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