The Mo Ibrahim Leadership Prize

The news that no winner this year for the African Leadership Prize came as a bombshell to many of us. Like other Africans or say Nigerians, I was very upset.  I joined the chorus of bandwagon to criticize this insult on the intelligence of Africa and on Africans. I queried the rationale for the decision and demanded to know the credentials of the judges who made such silly judgment. I was even tempted to say that it was racially motivated.

Since then I have sat down to re-examine in detail the whole saga and to put behind me the sentiment that the prize must be given at any cost – whether our leaders reached the passmark or not, whether most of them failed to build a sustainable institutional system or not. I love Africa but one can not but admit that most of our leaders have failed us. Elections have become a do or die affair; there is corruption everyone right from the judiciary to the policeman in the street. We seem to be quick at blaming others for our misfortune, yet I believe that we are the architect of our own misfortune because the man in the street has become passive to all what is happening around him. He has learnt to resign his fate to God. When you complain that all citizens should have access to the basic human needs or that there is no electricity for 10 days,  it is the same people who turn round to tell you that this is not Europe, we are accustomed to it -  that you should stop complaining. We have aided and abated our leaders in becoming ineffective – we are all sycophants – we say what we know they like to hear and we are afraid of challenging the status quo.

Having said all these, one issue still remains unclear, to many Nigerians, and that is the performance criteria used in the committee’s assessment. Many people have argued that the benchmark used is unknown to them and this should not have been the case. The question is why was there a need for ‘lengthy deliberations’ amongst the prize committee if indeed the benchmark for selection of a winner was clear enough. I do not agree with the board that “it could not give the reasons why it did not select someone because of the confidential terms of the decision-making process”. This shows that there is something fundamentally  wrong with the process – and this in itself is not a very good example of good governance. Transparency and flow of information are part of good governance and the Board has not lived up to expectation in making public its justification for refusing to select a winner.

Am I still angry that there is no winner this year for the African Leadership Prize?  My answer is NO!!! My view is that the Mo Ibrahim Prize should only be given to a Leader who has distinguished himself in all the parameters of a leader and also left behind a sustainable institutional system. The Prize is not just to be used to please any country or any individual leader, otherwise it would loose its credibility. We Africans also have a duty to shun corruption and corrupt leaders.

This is a guest article by Ms Lola Visser-Mabogunje, MSc, MCMI - Lola is Nigerian/Dutch and a Goodwill Ambassador to the CMI