Monday, October 19, 2009

The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership

The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is a very good prize to win. It carries with it $5 million paid over 10 years and $200,000 annually for life thereafter. This year's winner is ... may I have the envelope please ... NOBODY!

That's right. AP reports from London that the he prize-giving committee could not select a winner this year, although it looked at “some credible candidates”.

He said the foundation “noted the progress made with governance in some African countries, while noticing with concern recent setbacks in other countries.” Committee members said they could not discuss their deliberations, nor would they name the countries in which either progress or setbacks had been observed.

The prize, created in 2007 by Sudan-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, is awarded to a democratically elected former African head of state or government who has left office in the past three years. Mr. Ibrahim was asked about politicians who meet the award criteria but were not chosen, including former South African president Thabo Mbeki, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Ghanaian president John Kufuor.

Mr. Ibrahim 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 chose one for the prize.

What is unclear to Walt is why they didn't give the prize to Barack Obama!

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