Daily Independent (Lagos)
Kanmi Ademiluy
31 October 2008
opinion
Disconcertingly, there are real fears that the award initiated by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the US$5 million Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in Africa leadership, could soon go the way of all flesh. This will clearly be disastrous for the cause of good governance, transparency and sensible policy initiatives in Africa. The prize, one of the best initiatives to have come out of the African continent in recent times, has developed a life of its own and should out-live its initiator, the mobile communications entrepreneur, Mo Ibrahim.
What is perturbing to a lot of the well wishers of the initiative is the dispiriting announcement that Nigeria's former President, the ungraciously-ageing Caudillo Olusegun Obasanjo, was first runner-up in this year's selection. This is rather absurd. For, Obasanjo, like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, clearly represents the reason why Africa so desperately needed an initiative such as the Mo Ibrahim Prize. How could Obasanjo possibly have fitted in any sensible way into the stated aims of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The stated aims of the Foundation are - to stimulate debate on good governance across sub-Saharan Africa and the world; provide objective criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account; recognise achievement in African leadership and provide a practical way in which African leaders can build positive legacies on the continent when they have left office.
It is really quite difficult to see how given these stated objectives, anyone with a thinking cap could have put Obasanjo on the short list for the prize unless there is a hidden motive to desecrate the objectives. Given the criteria listed, it beggars belief that a man who promulgated a public holiday to stop the courts from adjudicating over a constitutional issue could be considered. In addition, how does vetoing a badly needed Freedom of Information Bill fit into the quest for good governance in Africa. Riding roughshod over the courts, gleefully subverting due process in public procurement contracts and presiding over the worst set of elections ever held cannot but contradict the Foundation's laudable objectives.
Despicable as the fellow is, there are obviously those who still have "sympathy for the devil," with due apologies to the British rock band - The Rolling Stones. Obasanjo's friends can try to rehabilitate the fallen angel through other schemes. However, desecrating the Mo Ibrahim prize would have a terrible effect on the quest for good governance in Africa. For if there is any convergence of thought in the public discourse, it is overwhelmingly that Africa can only beat the awful debilitations of mass poverty, disease and the massive skills gap through the entrenchment of good governance. The feudal court presided over by Obasanjo, with its reckless violation of human rights (remember Odi and Zaki-Biam massacres?) cannot be held up as the future of the African continent. The massive corruption of the polity, the reckless disregard for fairness and the social contract cannot in any conceivable way be the way for Africa to break out of the vicious circle. The minute someone with the track record of Olusegun Obasanjo wins the Mo Ibrahim Prize, then it's curtains up for the prize. After a superb heart-warming start, with the selection of Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and Botswana's Festus Mogae, it makes one to wonder whether any good initiative can last in Africa.
It is difficult to understand how the Kofi Annan-led prize committee could paper over the grotesque contradictions. In spite of enormous resources and unprecedentedly high crude oil prices, the 2008 Mo Ibrahim Index of African governance placed Nigeria (with 48.5 per cent) as 39th out of 48 countries. The performance index was developed by Mo Ibrahim in conjunction with Professors Robert I. Rothberg and Rachel Gisselquest of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. They graded the African countries on factors such as security, level of corruption as well as respect for human rights. Who was responsible for Nigeria's pathetic performance? Simple commonsense dictates that Nigeria's immediate past leader must be held responsible for the country's disgraceful performance. How can the same fellow now qualify to be eligible for consideration given the stated objectives of the Mo Ibrahim foundation?
It is to be hoped that there is not something sinister behind all this. Surely it cannot be beyond the Prize Committee to appreciate that but for the pussyfooting of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Obasanjo would be facing trial by now for a litany of financial crimes. In addition, you do not need a cerebral legal mind to put together a clear-cut case of crimes against humanity against the fellow before a United Nations tribunal. If Obasanjo picks up the Mo Ibrahim prize, it is only fair that a post-humous Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to Auguste Pinochet. Fair is foul, foul is fair.
The Obasanjo matter is strange, considering the fact that the board has shown sound judgment in the past. Mozambique's excellent ex-President won the prize last, the maiden outing, and the equally admirable Festus Mogae of Botswana was awarded this year's prize. The two of them share a common bond. They helped to ensure stability in their countries by enthroning the rule of law and constitutionalism. Both men pursued the cause of social justice by pursuing sound economic management in office. In the case of Mogae the committee stated that: "Mogae's outstanding leadership has ensured Botswana's continued stability and prosperity in the face of an HIV/AIDS pandemic which threatened the future of his country...He sought to diversify Botswana's economy away from dependence on the extraction of diamonds, while ensuring that more of the processing and sorting of its mining wealth took place within the country. The investment of that mining wealth in poverty reduction and job creation was the realisation of his pledge to tackle these issues upon taking office."
Can anyone say this about Obasanjo and the court of graft and division he presided over? We can only appeal to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to pull back from the brink. The Nobel prize has lasted so long and so well because through all the turbulence and tribulations it has never for once deviated from its laudable objectives. If the Nobel selection committee had been slack and prone to grievous errors, the prize would have been written off a long time ago. For instance, it would have been clearly absurd if in 1938 the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain on the basis of a spurious agreement in Munich, ludicrously purporting to guarantee 'peace in our time'. It is doubtful if the prestige of the prize could have recovered from such a faux pas. The Mo Ibrahim foundation should use the Nobel Committee as its benchmark. The cause and the essence of the Mo Ibrahim prize is too important to the cause of African emancipation for anything less. The error of judgment in relation to Obasanjo must never happen again!
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