Mo Ibrahim Foundation should broaden scope
Mmegi Editor | Thursday June 23, 2016 15:06
The last winner was former president of Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2014. Other Mo Ibrahim laureates include former presidents Pedro Pires of Cape Verde (2011), Botswana’s own, Festus Mogae (2008), Joachim Chissano of Mozambique (2007) and honorary laureate, Nelson Mandela of South Africa (2007). The award, which comes with substantial financial rewards of approximately $5 million as initial payment and $200,000 a year for life is the most noble initiative to “bring about meaningful change on the continent, by providing tools to support progress in leadership and governance”. A decade later, in a continent still marred with corruption, maladministration, and embezzlement of public funds, it is perhaps time that the Mo Ibrahim Foundation reviewed its criteria. As a suggestion, the prize should include promotion of transparency, media freedom, and accountability in the continent. It can be done by splitting the $5million and rewarding governments that promote the above-mentioned values. It could also be in recognition of a policy, or legislation that promotes such, or fund Non-Governmental Organisations that are fighting for transparency in their respective countries.
The foundation should also provide any form of assistance to anti-corruption agencies by providing further training to their staff and equipping them with skills to fight the social rot. Furthermore, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation should speak against practices that are anti-transparency, and those that do not promote accountability. This is because despite the presence of an enticing initiative for former African Heads of State, who stand to have a better and profitable life after office, we continue to witness corruption, theft, and no accountability. We continue to witness unnecessary wars such as the ongoing turmoil in Burundi sparked by President Pierre Nkurunzia’s bid for a third term against the country’s constitution. It is such individuals, who know very well that when there is turmoil they can easily cover their tracks and tamper with any evidence of corruption and embezzlement of public resources.
Such scrupulous leaders are very calculative and understand that the focus on the turmoil and its aftermath will remain at the centre of concentration keeping any attention away from their misdeeds for a long time. By the time the dust settles there would be no evidence upon which to convict them.
We hope that the foundation will seriously introspect and do the African continent and its people a fair service to restore dignity, a safe and secure future for the millions dying of hunger and disease every year. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to view the prize as a great marketing gimmick for the multi-billion dollar empire. Africans deserve better from fellow Africans, who have the potential to narrow a widening gap between the rich and the poor, perpetrated by neocolonialism.
Today’s thought
“Europe became rich because it exploited Africa; and the Africans know that.”
- Desmond Tutu