LONDON - Bypassing recent former presidents and heads of state in Africa, organizers of a multimillion-dollar annual prize for good governance on the continent said yesterday they had decided not to give out the award this year.
The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is awarded to democratically elected heads of state who have left office in the past three years. The requirements eliminate Africa’s dictators, some of whom have held power for decades.
The committee considered “some credible candidates’’ but could not select a winner, said Ketumile Masire, a former president of Botswana and a board member of the group that awards the prize.
Created in 2007 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.
Ibrahim was asked about three former presidents who meet the criteria but weren’t chosen: Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and John Kufuor of Ghana. Ibrahim said the foundation had “full respect’’ for them. It was unclear why the committee, which is independent of the foundation’s board, was unable to choose one for the prize. Committee members said they could not discuss their deliberations.
Some analysts said the award should be used as an encouragement to good governance.
“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.
Others saw a wake-up call.
“We’re seeing in places from Senegal to Libya attempts to pass power from father to son, and it’s been a year of coups in places like Madagascar and Mauritania and Guinea,’’ said Reed Brody, a Brussels-based legal counselor for Human Rights Watch. “It hasn’t been a great year for democracy in Africa. Maybe that’s what they were trying to say.’’
