Rumour has it that John Agyekum Kufuor, the former President of Ghana, is a virtual shoe-in for the much-coveted US$5 million Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.
Mo Ibrahim, an African himself and self-made entrepreneur, established the foundation as a ‘carrot’ to discourage kleptocracy on the continent. It is awarded annually to a former African Head of State or government who demonstrates ‘excellence in African leadership’ – basically someone who ‘steps down’ come election time. It is a US$5 million prize awarded over ten years, with the potential for an extra US$200,000 annually for life thereafter. Whilst I share Dr Ibrahim’s passion and desire to eradicate corruption in Africa, I disagree completely with the idea of a financial reward for ‘good leadership’ in Africa and anywhere else for that matter. What next – a Rolls Royce for paying your phone bill?
But the award process underscores everything that is wrong with the approach taken to resolve the continent’s problems to date. It is hypocrisy of the highest proportions: on the one hand, condemnation of the continent’s leadership but on the other hand, a willingness to forge deals with its corrupt elite, in this case, rewarding corrupt leaders for doing the jobs they have been elected to do. We do not want to be seen interacting with the big and bad Mugabes and Obiangs of the world but because we want their countries’ resources, we formulate development action plans to extract coveted raw materials under pretexts of transparency and ‘good governance’.
We need look no further than Kufuor to put into perspective how wrong the Mo Ibrahim Award is. Here is a man who, in his eight years in office, sold Ghana Telecom to Vodafone, sold what little remained of the large-scale gold mining economy to foreign investors, and negotiated unfavorable oil contracts which the impotent, newly-elected NDC Government cannot possibly change anytime soon. The most significant achievements made under his watch were the construction of a shopping mall in Accra, right across from his house; the installation of several roundabouts in his hometown of Kumasi; and providing moral support for the Ghana National Team, on site, at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The point is that Kufuor is nothing more than the ordinary man, an unspectacular leader who was more interested in accumulating air miles by travelling outside of his country. So why is going to be given US$5 million – for stepping down at the end of his rule? Rewarding people like Kufuor for doing virtually nothing almost concedes that we have given up on tackling corruption in Africa, and have accepted that the high-ranking people in the region who do their jobs are anomalous and should therefore be rewarded because, well, they do what they are supposed to do.
But I guess there is no reason to get upset over Kufuor having done nothing to get this US$5 million. After all, Barrack Obama was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for doing little more than winning an election and assembling a handful a fairly-engaging speeches…
