Tunis — The Mo Ibrahim Foundation marked its fifth anniversary last month and released its annual report on governance in Africa.
After two years without awarding its U.S. $10 million prize for leadership, the foundation announced that this year's Prize for Achievement in African Leadership will go to Cape Verde's former president Pedro Verona Pires. He will receive the award Saturday evening in Tunis, capital of Tunisia. The country is often called the cradle of the Arab spring, although a gathering of African media leaders here this week is also calling the events of the past year "the African spring".
Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese entrepreneur who launched the cellular phone revolution in Africa, is using the fortune he made in the telcom business to promote democracy and good governance in Africa. His foundation tracks progress towards transparency and accountability in government, as well as compiling social indicators, for the governance index. The group also awards prizes to former African heads of government who led their countries towards fairness, equity and prosperity. The foundation also recently began a fellows program, placing talented young Africans in international institutions. The rebellions in North Africa began just weeks after the Foundation's forum last year, where Ibrahim issued a rousing call for leaders of his generation to yield power to a new group of young African leaders - ones prepared to build effective, accountable governments. Later, Ibrahim's friends in Cairo accused him of having a crystal ball.
AllAfrica's Tami Hultman caught up with him to ask about the foundation's work and the dramatic events it has encouraged and watches. Excerpts:
At your last forum in Mauritius, you said that if the generation clinging to power in Africa didn't step aside, young people would sweep it away. Did you have a crystal ball?
I really believe that the young generation of Africa has a much better chance than us, the older generation, to take this continent forward. Young people are better educated. They grew up in a society which is well connected, well informed. They are able to communicate to one another, to know what is happening.
The spread of media, all sorts of media, is a great enabler for this generation. I have full faith that Africa is going to move forward, really, because of these young people. The people of this generation are destined to change the face of Africa.
You stress the need for regional integration in Africa – to create larger markets, to acquire more bargaining power internationally. Our experience at AllAfrica is that our users are quite focused on corruption as the major barrier to economic development. How do you get young people to care about and demand regional integration?
That is our main objective in starting the debate on this. Of course the issues of regional integration are a little bit complicated and not easy to grasp until you look at the data and understand what it means.
It is unlike corruption, which touches you every day of your life. So part of the function of our foundation is to create the platform that enables the discussion and airing of these issues.
What we really need now is to spread that debate across Africa – to generate the political will to push our governments to open their borders for African goods and to the free movement of people and capital.
We need to create this wide community which will enable us to compete, to reduce the costs of our products, to generate power where it is cheaper and greener – and then share it. We don't have to go and tinker and build our own little power station here and there. We could have regional projects.
And that is also important for peace and cooperation between nations in Africa. It is a tough job, it is not easy, but the argument is overwhelming. Once people understand why integration is going to change our lives, they become firm believers and activists to achieve it.
How active is the private sector in the debate on regional integration and political reform?
Unfortunately, the African private sector is not engaged as much as we would like. When you speak to business people individually they say, "Oh, I would love to expand my business into every country; it would be more efficient." But they approach it still as an individual problem.
What we are trying to tell them is: This is a policy problem. We need you to come to the political space and add your voice to ours to make things happen. Instead of seeking an individual solution for your company, let us produce policies which will enable this integration.
So there is work still to do to educate our private sector. There is a place for them in civil society and in public life.
Your foundation is launching a fellows program to develop leaders – placing young Africans in regional and international organizations to learn about Africa's issues.
Yes, the African Development Bank is one of the most aggressive advocates of regional integration. Most new projects and new financing are going towards regional projects. The approach is combining economic motivations and a development agenda, which is the right approach. By placing one of our fellows in that institution, I think that will help a lot.
We think the World Trade Organization is going to teach our fellows how economic power is regenerated by bigger communities - the bigger the economy, the bigger your voice in the WTO.
Nobody messes with China, nobody messes with the United States, or with Europe, because these are really big entities with a lot of clout and a lot of economic power. They have a place at the table.
But if you are a small little African country, you have no place at the table. Nobody hears what you say, because economically you are meaningless compared to those big guys. Placing fellows with these institutions is really a project to understand the realities of power and how the world around us is running.
North African events continue to reverberate. What will be the effect on civil society in sub-Saharan Africa?
I am sure it is going to impact sub-Saharan Africa, because we live in a very small world now. I was amused at the news that in Zimbabwe younger people were arrested because they were watching the TV broadcasts from Tahrir square [in Egypt].
That is interesting on two levels: the fact that young people in Zimbabwe were watching what was happening in Cairo, and also how the government perceived that just watching what is happening on a TV screen is a subversive act.
I think it shows how dictators can become nervous, and young people are really watching what is happening. We had demonstrations in Sudan – 400 people were arrested in Khartoum, and there is a famous case of someone who was raped by security forces in Sudan.
Unfortunately there was no Al Jazeera camera in Khartoum to let people know. [It is easier] to protect demonstrators when the world is watching what is happening.
Many African developments and issues are underreported.
That is one of the problems. Unfortunately, media is focused on what they perceive as strategic countries. Our media outlets sometimes do not even have a presence in a place like Swaziland or in Khartoum, and that is not helpful. But it will not stop the movement for change, and I am sure the wind of change is blowing everywhere.
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Talk a little about the prize you award for good governance in the context of these changes in north Africa and elsewhere on the continent.
We try to recognize the role of decent and aspiring leadership in moving countries forward and developing an agenda for development, justice, democracy and human rights. Sometimes, naturally, we focus on dictators and the bad guys. We just want to flag that there are also some the good guys.
Not all the stories from Africa are bad stories; there are some really good people. We wanted to honor that and introduce them to the world.
Very few people knew about Festus Mogae in Botswana [the second recipient of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation governance award]. It is an interesting African country which is doing the right things, and it was time for the world to hear about Botswana.
And we must help those wonderful leaders to be free after office to engage in civil activities. So, for example, Mogae works in the area of HIV, works in the area of environment and climate change and on elections.
All his time is giving back to Africa, because he doesn't need to look for a job now, or worry where he is going to live. We will take care of that. We say just continue doing what you were doing before. And what they are doing now is not less important than what they did in office.
That is the object of our prize.
