Again, No African Leader Qualifies for 2016 Mo Ibrahim Prize

Gboyega Akinsanmi

For the second year in a row, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an African non-governmental organisation established to promote good governance and responsible leadership, yesterday announced that there was no winner of the 2016 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.

The Chairman of the Independent Prize Committee, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, disclosed this in a statement he issued after deliberation on the candidates for the 2016 Prize by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Board.

Salim, Secretary-General of the defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU) between 1989 and 2001, disclosed that no winner emerged for theIbrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership for two consecutive editions.
The chairman specifically explained that no candidate applied for the prize met the requirements of a truly exceptional leader, which he said was an uncommon quality not just on the continent, but also across the world.
He said: “As I emphasise each year, a very high bar was deliberately set when the Ibrahim Prize was launched in 2006. We recognise and applaud the important contributions that many African leaders have made to change their countries for the better.

“But the Prize is intended to highlight and celebrate truly exceptional leadership, which is uncommon by its very definition. After careful consideration, the committee has decided not to award the Prize in 2016.”
He explained that the candidates for the Ibrahim Prize “are all former African executive Heads of State or Government who have left their office during the last three calendar years (2014-2016), having been democratically-elected and served their constitutionally mandated term.

Since its inauguration in 2006, Salim said the Ibrahim Prize had been awarded four times, noting that former President of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was the inaugural honorary laureate in 2007.
He gave other previous laureates of the Ibrahim Prize “to President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (2014), President Pedro Pires of Cabo Verde (2011), President Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008), and President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique (2007).”

Salim, however, noted that the foundation would host its flagship event, the Ibrahim Governance Weekend, in Marrakech, Morocco between April 7 and April 9.

He said the foundation’s flagship event would open on the Friday evening with a high-profile discussion titled: ‘A Conversation on Leadership,’ looking at the challenges of global leadership in the 21st century.