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Guest
Mo Ibrahim
For a second consecutive year, no leader has been deemed worthy of the $5 million Ibrahim prize for Achievement in African Leadership.
This is the the fourth time there has been no winner in its seven-year history. The prize is meant for leaders of African countries who excel in office and then step down when they are supposed to.
According to ALJAZEERA, Salim Ahmed Salim, who chaired the prize committee for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, said the committee considered every African head of state or government who retired in the last three years.
Committee member Aicha Bah Diallo said the group looked "for excellence in governance but in leadership also".
Responding to critics who say the Foundation was painting a poor image of Africa by not awarding the prize annually, Ibrahim said that the prize honored excellence and not just impressive feats in office.
"Some people say we are giving a negative message (about Africa), but we are not just in the business of positive messages – we would lose our credibility", he added.
Hadeel Ibrahim, Mo's daughter and founding executive director of the foundation, told CNN: "We're holding a mirror up to Africa and if there's a winner, congratulations to the winner and to that country, and if there's no winner we hope that African people get more of the leadership they deserve".
Past winners of the prize are; former Cape Verde President Pedro Verona Pires won in 2011, Festus Mogae of Botswana won in 2008, and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique won in 2007.
Mo Ibrahim, Sudanese-born billionaire created the award in 2007.
