Alexandria: It is time for us Africans to wake up, dictate our own agenda, and run our own show, said Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation at a press conference held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is an organization created by Africans to help build a better future for the continent by encouraging integrity in leadership.
The foundation chose Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, as the first recipient of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African leadership.
Chissano will be awarded $5 million over the course of 10 years and will be given $200,000 annually for the rest of his life towards his public interest activities and causes, making the prize the largest ever of its kind.
The prize committee consists of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan; Selim Ahmed Selim, former prime minister of Tanzania and former secretary general of the Organization of African Unity; Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former United Nations high commissioner for human rights; Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland; Aucha Bah Diallo, former minister of education in Guinea and special adviser to the director-general of Unesco; and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank.
Chissano was chosen because he chose to step down from office before the end of his third term after his country showed great progress and development under his leadership.
The criteria for the prize include democratically-elected leaders who have willingly stepped down from office. The Ibrahim Index of African governance is also one of the criterion looked.
It is a new comprehensive ranking of sub-Saharan African countries which has been created to provide objective criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account and stimulate debate about governance across sub-Saharan Africa and the world.
According Ibrahim, the lower the ranking of the country, the bigger its chances for development.
The award was presented in the Alexandria Library at a ceremony, featuring a speech by Kofi Anan and videos from Nelson Mandella and Bill Clinton as well as performances by different African artists.
Mo Ibrahim is the founder of the African telecommunications company Celtel International and one of Africa s most successful business leaders. He said the prize is funded by money made in sub-Saharan Africa so we should give it back.
When asked whether their will be enough leaders to receive this prize year after year, Ibrahim said he was surprised that even in Africa he was being asked this question. The continent, he said, has produced one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century: Nelson Mandella.
Get out of this mood and stop focusing on the bad, Ibrahim added. “Be more positive, is the message he’s trying to convey.
The Alexandria-educated Ibrahim started his business in England. He called on more businessmen to follow suit and put their interest in Africa into action, creating more incentives and prizes to help spur development.
When asked why he is rewarding leaders for their integrity, he said that it is not something that comes naturally and that they are rewarded for excelling in their jobs.
He compared rewarding leaders to rewarding athletes for their performance in the Olympics and the World Cup, or for recognizing people’s achievements with a Nobel Prize. All of these people work hard and get paid for what they do, but the one who excels deserves to be honored for their excellence.
