Alas, African leaders are so congenitally corrupt that the only way “to remove corruption and improve governance” throughout the continent is, in fact, to bribe them.
This seems to be the perverse reasoning that has inspired Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim (left) to award a prize to the African leader who is deemed to be the least corrupt in Africa. And, to prove his intent to vest this dubious distinction with value that surpasses even the Nobel prize (at $1.4 million), the “Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership” will be awarded with a cash gift of $5 million over 10 years, when the winner leaves office, plus $200,000 a year for life.
But only a leader who “democratically transfers power to his successor” will be eligible to receive this golden parachute. Although, one wonders how this cash inducement will work – given that it seems an acceptable fringe benefit for most African leaders to steal more than $5 million each year of their presidency….
Now, before you start scoffing at the patently egocentric and inherently fatuous nature of Ibrahim’s no “Mo” corruption prize, you should know that Harvard University has signed on to evaluate the candidates and select the annual winner. And, notwithstanding my cynicism, the good news (I suppose) is that former South African President Nelson Mandela, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan are among the notable statesmen who have endorsed this prize.
Nonetheless, I cannot help thinking that this is rather like promising a child a cookie to induce it to behave. And it’s more than a little disappointing that those who have complained most about the paternalistic and patronizing treatment of Africans are now the ones participating in this paternalistic and patronizing exercise, no matter how well-intentioned.
NOTE: Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo will probably be the first leader eligible to receive this prize when he’s “forced” to democratically transfer power to his successor after national elections next April. Because he’s arguably the second least corrupt leader in Africa, after South African President Thabo Mbeki (who wll not be eligible until 2009).
Never mind that Obasanjo’s political opponents claim reasonable suspicion that he may have dipped his hand in the cookie jar a few times during his tenure to take his share of the $380 billion that, according to a BBC report, has been stolen or wasted by Nigerian leaders over the past 25 years.
Only in Africa folks….
ENDNOTE: Many of my fellow Caribbean natives are apoplectic about a pending new law which will require Americans traveling there to have a passport. They are understandably concerned that this requirement will have a devastating impact on our tourist economies because so few potential American visitors have passports.
But click here to see why, though well-founded, their emotions and complaints are wholly misguided.
Mo Ibrahim, corrupt African leaders
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