Again, African leaders fail to win Mo Ibrahim award

The Mo Ibrahim Award, a $5 million political leadership prize, has no winner for the second year on the trot.

The award launched by Sudanese telecoms magnate Mo Ibrahim in 2006 is designed to encourage and consolidate democracy in Africa. It has previously been won by Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano, Botswana’s Festus Mogae, Cape Verde’s Pedro De Verona Rodrigues Pires and Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2014.

Eligibility for the award is to be democratically elected as a head of state or government who have left office in the previous three years after the expiration of their mandate.

“The Prize is intended to highlight and celebrate truly exceptional leadership, which is uncommon by its very definition,” prize committee chairman Salim Ahmed Salim said in a statement accompanying the 2016 non-award.

The prize is meant to set the winner up for life, with $5 million paid out over 10 years followed by a $200,000-a-year pension. However, it does not appear to be gaining much traction with Africa’s ruling elite.

It was reported that disgraced former President of The Gambia, Yahaya Jammeh had made the list until his sudden volte face, rejecting the outcome of a president election that he lost.