By Mazhun Idris
If good governance ever needed an incentive beyond a nation's well-being, British-Sudanese billionaire Mohammed "Mo" Ibrahim's announcement of a lucrative $5mn prize for African leaders in 2006 may have been what the doctor ordered to lift the continent from decades of underdevelopment attributed to poor leadership.
The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is managed by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and is regarded as the world's heaviest purse. It grants its recipient a princely sum of $5 million over ten years and $200,000 a year for life.
Each year, an independent prize committee comprising eminent figures chooses a deserving leader for the award.
More than 16 years since the initiative's inception, pundits are beginning to analyse its impact on governance and democracy in Africa.
Dr Idayat Hassan of an Abuja-based policy advocacy and research organisation, the Center for Democracy and Development, believes the prize is helping shape governance and the attitude of African leadership.
"The Ibrahim prize is fit for its purpose and quite a noble endeavour that puts a benchmark on leadership, specifically encouraging incumbents to affirm their leadership style," Hassan tells TRT Afrika.
But Dr Chris Kwaja, an associate professor of international relations, sees the Ibrahim prize as "an elitist venture". However, he admits that encouraging good governance in Africa is a good initiative.
All about perception
Kwaja, who teaches at the Modibbo Adama University in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola, has some reservations about the procedure for the selection of awardees.
"They rely on a small committee to deliberate on who gets the prize, and the committee members come with their own biases, which could have been partly influenced by media ratings and narratives on the list of personalities they evaluate," he explains.
"Remember, it is the electorate that voted for these political leaders. And since these very people are absent in the prize committee's voting process, what you get in the end is a report compiled by an exclusive group of elites, who might be far removed from the reality on the ground," he says.
"I don't think the committee relies on the people's views and assessments."
The academic believes the candidates for the award should go through a more competitive and severe process for the most deserving to emerge.
Who deserves the prize?
According to Kwaja, the prize need not focus on African political leaders alone to ensure a broad spectrum of impact. "There are many individuals befitting this award, but the nature of the prize that targets African political leaders only makes it exclusionary," he says.
He believes the award committee should also consider "change makers in local communities, the private sector, civil service or civil society".
For its part, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has made its criteria for the award clear enough. The organisation explains that it is an award that aspires to be the "standard for excellence in leadership in Africa".
Some qualities of a deserving awardee include being a democratically elected former African executive head of state or government who has left office in the last three years and has served their constitutionally mandated term demonstrating "exceptional leadership".
It says the goal is to recognise and celebrate African leaders who, under challenging circumstances, "have developed their countries and strengthened democracy and human rights for the shared benefit of their people, paving the way for sustainable and equitable prosperity".
The other objectives are to "highlight exceptional role models for the continent", "ensure the African continent continues to benefit from the experience and wisdom of exceptional leaders once they have left national office", and "to enable the leaders to continue in other public roles on the continent".
Post-2020, no African leader has been found worthy of the annual prize. There have also been instances before that of the selection committee not finding deserving award recipients for several consecutive years. Since the award was first given in 2007, only seven leaders have received it. They are:
President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger (2020)
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (2017)
Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (2014)
Pedro Pires of Cape Verde (2011)
Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008)
Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique (2007)
Dr Nelson, Mandela of South Africa, received an honorary award in its maiden year.
Some believe the limited number of recipients and how some years were skipped without an awardee point to a continuous deficit of good governance on the continent. Others see it as an indication of efforts to ensure the bar remains high.
Africa's democracy and development analyst Idayat Hassan says, "it is quite interesting that 16 years since commencement, the award has had only seven recipients".
She sees this as indicating that "the prize criterion somehow meets its purpose".
The last recipient of the prize, former Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, had described the award as '"an encouragement to continue to think and act in such a way that promotes democratic values and good governance, not only in Niger but in Africa and around the world".
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation believes the prize "has the potential to change perceptions of African leadership by showcasing exceptional role models from the continent".
Money matters
The prize is an incentive to dissuade African leaders from violating or altering constitutional provisions to remain in power. But Kwaja thinks a monetary award isn't quite "the best idea" out there.
"It is good to recognise good leaders, but when you monetise the process of this recognition, the big question is: What would an African ex-President do with the money after office?"
Researcher Hassan, on the other hand, is convinced that the incentive "should not just be prestige". The money, she says, is meant for the "sustenance of the former leaders through the rest of their lives".
We need to reimagine the Ibrahim prize so that it becomes peer support for African leaders. Let it speak to the challenges we currently face
"We need to reimagine the Ibrahim prize so that it becomes peer support for African leaders. Let it speak to the challenges we currently face," she says.
According to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's website, the Ibrahim prize's handsome cash reward of $5m seeks to "ensure that the African continent continues to benefit from the experience and wisdom of exceptional leaders once they have left national office, by enabling them to continue their invaluable work in other civic roles on the continent."
The organisation adds that the "prize lies not with its winner but also with the conversation around leadership it generates".
Both Hassan and Kwaja believe that one leadership prize alone cannot sufficiently trigger the needed improvements in leadership across Africa. The continent needs more.
